Do you have an inner monologue?

[goldenorbspider]

Mine never shuts up. I'm curious those that don't what do you have instead? I'd love just to see images but does that get annoying sometimes as well?

My thought process is primarily images but also sounds/smells/sensations sometimes. It can be a bit unpleasant in that it’s quite intrusive and more intense than words.

Ooh is this not true of most people? You've described it exactly how I experience it. If someone says "summer" then I will smell fresh cut grass, feel a bit like the sun is on my skin and feel really calm. If they then said "winter" right away I would get a sort of tingly cold feeling.

I developed epilepsy a couple of years ago as a result of a car crash and its heightened all of these kind of sensations for me, I now get new ones too before I have seizures - called auras which are basically warning signs that one is coming.

From a super young age I've had incredibly vivid dreams too, totally immersive and sometimes incredible but sometimes traumatic as they are so convincing. I guess in general some of us experience everything to a more intense degree.

We are fascinating creatures aren't we!

I feel like I don't have a monologue, and I don't think in images. I just have a very busy stream of consciousness, I am never relaxed. I am autistic, so I don't know how this affects such things.

In fact, how would I know if I thought in words or images? I can't really imagine either of these. This thread is confusing me

What warning feelings do you get before a seizure?

Would you differentiate thinking from inner monologue? Or would you say thinking is a way to describe an inner monologue?

I have a cacophony of talking/words in my head at all times. My brain is very noisy.

I feel like I have thoughts of my own and then an inner monologue who I don’t particularly like talking to me...or even about me.

What warning feelings do you get before a seizure?

For me I get a metallic taste in my mouth, a smell like petrol or chlorine and / or a feeling I can only describe as deja vu - a sort of confusion without feeling faint or anything, just very surreal.

I'm still getting used to it as I'm early 30s and the crash was only a couple of years ago. I'm lucky I'm a bit of a geek I think as being interested in all things science and psychology helps me sort of depersonalise it and be interested in it. Don't know if that makes sense?

My strangest epilepsy experience so far has been something I couldn't articulate well but thank god an amazing neurologist recognised it and it's EXACTLY how described here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AliceinnWonderlandsyndrome

Yes, I do and what it tells me about myself is downright nasty, wouldn't repeat it, just wish it would leave me alone.

Yes. But it’s like I’m reading allowed. It’s completely under my control.

Yes,constantly,never shuts up,carries on in dreams too and I verbalise also,my mum says I'm the only person she knows who can argue with themself.

Yes, but that is not a bad thing. My inner voice is Adlerian. Not critical

Constant. Exhausting.

Same here. It's one of the reasons I drink too much - wine shuts it up.

I thought most people do, that it's not having one that's unusual?

I do - and run my own side of conversations with others a lot - but it is my voice. It is not an intrusive voice, or in any way 'other'.

just wish it would leave me alone.

^^hope you get ther

My inner voice just never shuts the fuck up, it's exhausting.

Yoga, meditation etc is useless and does nothing for me - the voice just continues rambling on.

To stop myself/the voice from going on about negative things, or to help me get to sleep, I deliberately steer the narrative into my make believe world (where I'm fantastic and beautiful and rich etc, leading an exciting life). I think that kind of daydreaming is also very common?

I don't say dream so much now but there was a time I did it a lot! But it wasn't healthy it would be me disassociating when life got hard. But yea I had really detailed interesting worlds and characters to escape to.

Mine never shuts up. I find writing helps. I write loads of stories because the voice writes them and I can just go along with it. Annoying when I need to do something else. When I’m particularly tired or stressed it shouts song lyrics really loudly and untunefully

Does your monologue ever respond in song? Someone might say something that's a song lyric and mine breaks into song

Oh yes mine breaks into song all the time!

I don’t have one! I can’t imagine what it would be like.

How do you think 123dancewithme? Do you have something else instead of a voice?

When I was little I asked my mum if she thought our neighbour from Germany thought in English or in german. She said she didn't understand the question as she (my mum) thought in pictures not words. I have a inner monologue. It's not always very helpful!

@123Dancewithme. What happens in your head if you are making a choice? For example if you are trying to decide what shoes to wear or what to make for dinner?

I do. I assumed everybody does, I can't imagine it any other way.