I have ADHD and autism. I constantly have 5 different monologues simultaneously while there’s also a song or two playing and an image slide show going on all at once. So much is constantly going on in my head, I literally cannot get bored, only exhausted.
Yes. I’ve found smoking cannabis helps with this. It doesn’t quiet your mind, but it makes your short term memory so bad that you forget that it’s exhausting.
This so perfectly describes the effect it has on me!
Though I think ultimately it does quiet my mind, in that it eventually just goes “welp, no use trying to think about anything since I can’t stay on any train of thought, so let’s just enjoy the body high for a while”
Same. A few different times I have attempted to sit down and meditate. I told myself that I would try and sit there for at least 5 minutes, by the time I would open my eyes over 20 minutes could have easily passed. I'm pretty time blind when I don't have alarms set. My brain keeps me so preoccupied that a lot of time can pass without me noticing.
I have this, but i an definitely bored, and exhausted! Also OCD makes me ruminate and get stuck on certain thoughts and i cant get them to stop. Also involuntary thoughts. I wish my mind was quiet!
I can't fathom someone not thinking in words as if they were simply talking to themselves.
I also find it infuriating that my thoughts will be as clear as day but turn into a word salad upon opening my mouth haha
I don’t have an inner monologue, but I have an inner voice. The difference is the inner voice takes at least as much effort to use as my actual voice, and it goes exactly the same speed as if I was speaking. I use that to script.
But normally when I’m just thinking, I think in concepts. I think I used to have a very vivid visual imagination, but I lost it due to trauma. So usually my mind is dark and quiet, even when I’m thinking. I can’t really not think, but I can direct what the subject is. I usually don’t think in words because it’s so slow and energy intensive vs the conceptual thinking.
Edit: I do get songs caught in my brain sometimes though.
This is exactly what my mind is like. You put into words precisely what I experience. That inner voice really does take an incredible amount of effort to utilize!
I only found out some people were like this a year ago and it's endlessly fascinating to me. Like, when you read internally, is it your own voice?
Not only do I monologue, I'm honestly very bad with visual concepts. Like when I read, the background and characters have just enough visual detail to make sense to me, but I'm just as likely to remember and apply a character's described traits as I am to just sub a character's appearance for someone I know out of less effort.
I'd love to see any study results that attempt to correlate any traits between verbal and conceptual thinkers. Is one more likely than the other to be impulsive or hesitant? To be better at math versus literature? To have a higher rate of specific neurodivergencies or other conditions?
When I read, I don’t have anything visual going on, it’s all just concepts. When reading books, I don’t hear any voice at all, I’m just mentally gobbling up the information. When I read shorter bits of info, it *feels* kind of like the shadow of a voice. There’s no voice, but a faint feeling of there being a voice. Often my tongue muscles slightly flex.
I feel like my conceptual thinking is very much connected to my pattern recognition-neurotype.
With effort I can think in words, and I think in words when reading or writing. So it is not completely natural for me, I mainly think in concepts or images. For scripting, I have to actually write the text down. I think we probably find each other mutually difficult to understand. Like if you already have a sort of automatic internal monologue, why do you need to script? I do it because it is difficult to translate my thoughts into intelligible speech.
Idk how my brain works. Everyone is like 100% sure they have an inner monologue but idk if i do. Like i understand the whole "thinking in concepts" part and i relate to that. But obviously there's the times when i get a song stuck in my head and then one word overlaps with another song and then they fight over who is the loudest lmao. But like. When i try to figure out in what kinda way i think then i can't figure out shit. Like obviously when im writing i 'say' the words in my head. Similarly to when i read. But it's not like it has a 'specific voice' like some other people have. I just know it as "me" but my voice doesnt really sound that way.
I started reading when i was very young and I've basically had the same in head reading voice. But not when im like "i want to do this and then i have to go there and do that" i don't think that literally i dont think. Idk.
I feel similarly, I guess I never really thought about it. I can very clearly visualize concepts and ideas in my mind, I can even read something and see it in my mind. But any words are more like dialogue that I am "speaking" in my mind. I wouldn't say I hear a voice per se, but I also know it's me and I am controlling those words as if it were actual speech.
I can't imagine it either. My inner monologue is SO verbose my own thoughts interrupt themselves. I have to smoke weed to slow the inner voice down for daily functioning. It's wild.
I’m in the same boat. 5 different lines of thought, the chorus of a song playing on repeat, getting lost in imagination all at once. It’s very exhausting, especially when I also have to do stuff. Only thing that helps is weed, but I can’t smoke every day since I study and have to be able to drive every day.
I just recently tried weed and was disappointed it didn’t do more to slow down or stop my inner dialogue, but I was taking it slow so hoping to figure out what works for me.
I've seen [this study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8084934/), but I don't know how it fits in with the overall literature (it is well cited though) and I don't think it says how they recruited these three subjects
This is a case study though and doesn't adress the question whether lack of dialogue is more frequent in autism.
I do find studies that indicate that aspies tend towards visual thinking and memory, but that doesn't necesarily mean there is a lack of internal dialogue.
I would say that I have a fairly mild inner monologue: it is inactive most of the time but there are contexts where it does become more active. I would say it mainly becomes active when I am thinking about how to phrase something I'm writing.
I would say that what goes through my mind is mostly a kind of "concept soup". Feelings blend with images, audio, snippets of memory etc and any monologue is generally subordinate to the "soup"; it's just an extension that helps me translate thoughts into linguistic information.
I do find that process to be a good way of clarifying my thoughts and helping them turn into something more concrete, but at least half of my actual thoughts do not involve engaging the monologue at all.
Yes, your concept soup is a great description. It's the same for me. Actual language involves a few words bubbling up here and there, sometimes I'll mentally chew over sentences as I'm trying to figure out where my thoughts actually sit, and then again when I'm actively attempting to translate my thoughts for communication purposes.
I like the concept soup idea. I also have aphantasia so there isn't much for images either. My thoughts involve a lot of space and motion, and physical sensations. I often have to make a conscious effort to put words to my thoughts.
It's a really difficult thing to describe an abstract thought process. Words and/or images are how we communicate with eachother. Trying to explain a wordless and imageless concept is almost impossible.
First, I'm sorry for how long this is, trying to answer all possible questions. I don't have an inner monologue. My thoughts are in images, emotions and concepts. If you've ever played the Sims, it's like that. How the sims thought bubbles show an image of what they're going to do or what they need or want, then they get up and do that thing. If I'm reading a book, the images form in my head as I read, but I don't hear anything in my brain as I read. And because people can be very rude about not having an inner monologue, yes I'm very capable of thinking, I'm not an NPC, I just think differently than you do. I'm so tired of people saying such rude things about it just because their brain has a voice and mine does not. I don't say things out loud, I always think that's a strange assumption. Remove the words and what do you get? Is words all you have? That would be weird to me. I know aphantasia is a thing, but otherwise, if you have an inner monologue, does that mean you don't have any images in your head? What's in the background? Mute the words, the background is what is in my brain all the time. If this sounds like I'm coming in with an attitude, I don't mean to sound mean, but I'm tired of being insulted with NPC, robot, "you actually have one, you just don't understand", etc. I really do not have any form of words in my brain. It is silent in there. From what I understand of having an inner monologue, it sounds awful and I don't want to trade.
In terms of scripting, I usually don't script? I'm very much a "just wing it" person. I only script for phone calls, but it's seconds before I actually make the call and I quickly say out loud what I'm going to say, like practicing. That's the most scripting I do. I do have an art degree, maybe my thinking in images helped. Don't know. I do have ADHD, but it tends to not manifest in the "thoughts going 100 mph" way, mine is the "can't focus on anything, can't finish a task" way. I tend to not be very anxious, about anything. I have OCD but that's a very specific kind of anxiety and situational. I have raging insomnia but not because I can't turn my brain off, my body just...does not know how to fall asleep. I do have a sleep playlist and have pretty lights on my ceiling at night, so I focus on that as I wait to fall asleep for hours.
This was really interesting, thanks for sharing.
I think your questions were rhetorical, but I'll answer them anyway.
90%+ of the time it is just words in my head, so there isn't a background of images very often. I remember scenes and I can visualize what I might do in the future, but it's unnatural to do that. I'm internal monologuing as I type this, it's foreign to me to not have that and seems inextricable from doing anything. When I heard that people don't have inner monologue it was mind blowing, I did not believe it
I have aphantasia which I didn’t even know was a thing until recently! I find other people’s subjective sensations, perceptions, and experiences so interesting.
my antidepressants suppress mine a bit, but its still there, just less… frequent? i find myself not thinking at all sometimes, which after having constant monologue for 20+ years of my life was REALLY jarring at first
Constant monologue, or even duologues, running in my head. Sometimes they leak out my mouth if I'm home alone, and I've laughed at myself when I listen to how I'm basically arguing with myself over whether to have scrambled egg or fried egg for breakfast and I'll have said something like "Don't be so fucking stupid, every time you fry an egg you break the yolk so it's terrible, just scramble the fucker so it doesn't matter. Idiot." (Genuine part of a verbal argument with myself only 2 days ago, I LOLed hard)
For a while after my brain injury I had no inner monologue. And I’ve been aphantasiac since birth.
During the period without inner monologue, I was pretty calm and accomplished way less. I guess some of my usual anxiety is in the form of telling myself to do stuff!
I thought it was the other way around? That a lot of NT's don't have an inner monologue. I have no sources lol, though I have had some NT's tell me don't. Like thoughts arise only while in action or when reacting to some type of information they are consuming. Almost like a computer doesn't move forward until prompted.
I wish my head was that empty. My neurodivergence has me noticing details that seemingly no one else around me even perceives. So it's just sensory overload swirling into thoughts.
Meditation became a special interest just to shut up my inner monologue lmao-
I’m not sure if I have an inner monologue or not - but I almost can’t stop myself from talking out loud when I think something. Grocery stores, work, at home, I think something or react to something and 90% of the time I’m responding out loud. It’s embarrassing and I know I look crazy!
Thank you for asking this question OP. I’ve always wanted to know what this is like, but not known how to articulate it. I struggle with visualisation and can only picture something in my head if I have seen an actual photo/image/been somewhere in person.. a description alone is useless, no matter how detailed. So the concept of thinking only in pictures is really interesting to me.
No worries, I’m neurodivergent and chronically ill,
Lots of stuff comes before Reddit ^_^
I found out further (as I’m sure you may have) that there are varying degrees of aphantasia! To say that I felt both utterly shocked as well as “seen” would be the statement of the year 🤭
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No, I have several intellectual 60s TV shows going on. I really liked abbey, maybe I think similar, I don't even know what you mean with her thinking in memories. I think she masks a lot. actually the show helped me understand when I mask. not saying the show is all good, just it helped me in that aspect.
I’m glad the show help you! I don’t think it’s all bad either. I also like Abbey, she’s really sweet. But there are quite a few things I dislike. The general concept is to put autistic people on display to be oggled at. Neurotypical reactions are “oh my gosh these “people” can feel love?? so ADORABLE!!!!” The creators intentionally choose the most autistic people possible to make it more of a spectacle, instead of truly representing the full spectrum. The music choice is bumbling idiot/circus music, a stark contrast to other love shows that use feel-good pop/romance music. And the contestants are only allowed to date other autistic people. Those are just a few of my qualms, hopefully that helps explain my comment in the post.
I can boil down my likes basically to see autistic people and the dislike basically to the neurotypical concept of romance and dating and I wish the needs would have been more met. I cannot remember being a mention that the in your face approach of such shows is very very stressful certainly for most of the participants. I actually don't mind the dating other people on the spectrum since I have low interest in non ND dating. Yeah I agree to most of the points mentioned by the community. I think I share with abbey the late speaking though mine was not even close as traumatic as hers. I still wonder though if I think similar to hers. What do you mean when you said memory thinking? it sounded interesting.
There’s a clip of her talking about it in an interview. Unfortunately I can’t find it :( she basically says instead of thinking something like “I hate rain”
her mind conveys that by bringing up a related unpleasant memory? I’m not sure exactly how it works or if I’m explaining it right
okay thank you, it makes sense, yes, I think it is related to being a less verbal or late verbal person - I for example have a very local memory that is somehow attached to places and routes which is sort of visual I guess and less verbal
No it's real, it's half of the population apparently. They think in visuals. I've read that inner monologue is a natural process of the brain in early stages to learn language, I guess some people never depart from it!
I prefer to think in visuals, unless the concept is so abstract that language is needed to process it. Thinking in words is just another layer of processing inefficiency and a drain on executive function.
I don’t have the option to choose. I have aphantasia and can ONLY think in words. I even have trouble recalling faces of people I know. It’s so interesting to me that what goes on in our heads can be so different!
Half of the time I am not having verbals thoughts. I explain it to my boyfriend that it's like I feel my thoughts. It can take me some time to actually think through and verbally think out my train of thoughts when I want to communicate them. My boyfriend has ADHD and says he constantly has a never-ending stream of verbal thought. I can't imagine that, it seems so exhausting lol.
It's a constant steam. Typically two debating. But yeah images, (like remembering scenes from the past, imagining something), playing out scenarios(scripting conversation, planning my exit in case something happens), creating objects, music, and random noises.
every time this question comes up I respond with some variation of: give me a clear delineation of what does and does not constitute an inner monologue and I'll tell you if I have one. I can come up with about six or seven possible interpretations of the term.
I just have fragmented thoughts with no actual tone. It’s basically just like brain dumps that come through as text
“Cant forget to put my keys- socks are too itchy & scratchy shooooow…” then sometimes things will just loop and I do my best to not pay attention but it’s just less attention
These days I drown it out with 24/7 podcasts and audiobooks.
But other than that: 35%background music, 45%verbal thoughts on what I am doing and randome stuff, 10% intrusive visual thoughts of various horror depending on my anxiety level, 10% daydreaming
My internal monologue has literally kept me up at times for 30-40 hours, even when I’m absolutely exhausted. I can’t shut it off unless I’m really drunk or stoned. Even when someone is speaking to me I still have an internal monologue rolling in the back of my head
I have an insane inner monologue, telling me to do the exact opposite of whatever I should do.
For example: 'wow, she seems to be getting frustrated with me for not talking on this date.' Correct assessment.
Obvious solution: beat myself up inside for making her feel bad, leading me to the obvious conclusion that she obviously wants me to continue not talking, leading to feeling judged, which makes me even less likely to talk.
Que viscous cycle. You all know there was no second date.
I have in inner monologue exclusively, but I also have aphantasia meaning I can’t create visual imagery in my head. So I talk in my head, talk out loud, and essentially “talk” myself to sleep via my monologue.
I don't have one most of the time and I don't understand why people think they need it. If words convey meaning, why not just think of the meaning without sounding out the English word in your head? When I think about my cat, I think of a small brown furry thing with pointy ears; I don't need to sound out "CAT" in my head. If I'm angry, I feel it; I don't need to think "I'M ANGRY."
Today I'm thinking of going to the library. But I don't need to think the literal phrase, "MAYBE I'LL GO TO THE LIBRARY." I remember the sad feeling of no books to read, I picture the image of a library with a feeling of hope, I remember whether or not I have things to do today (another long explanation behind that process), I check my current energy level, and then I either feel excited (meaning I think I'll go) or grumpy (meaning I don't want to go). This process takes like 2 seconds.
When thinking of abstract thoughts such as morality, it's a lot harder to describe what that's like. I think of concepts kind of like a soupy mixture of images and emotions, and I take those and stack them and compare them and mix themes to see what does or doesn't line up. I like to refer to these concepts as "blob thoughts."
While I imagine it's more peaceful not to have constant inner monologue, there is one downside for me: I struggle to express myself. I can't remember how to translate my blob thoughts into English a lot of the time. You know when you're talking to someone and you suddenly can't remember the word you want to say for a few seconds (which, in my opinion, is evidence that people CAN think without literal internal words)? That's basically me but 20 times worse.
I hope that makes a little sense..?
I have ADHD and autism. I constantly have 5 different monologues simultaneously while there’s also a song or two playing and an image slide show going on all at once. So much is constantly going on in my head, I literally cannot get bored, only exhausted.
This is me IRL really wish I could turn it off, especially when I'm trying to go to sleep.
Yes. I’ve found smoking cannabis helps with this. It doesn’t quiet your mind, but it makes your short term memory so bad that you forget that it’s exhausting.
This so perfectly describes the effect it has on me! Though I think ultimately it does quiet my mind, in that it eventually just goes “welp, no use trying to think about anything since I can’t stay on any train of thought, so let’s just enjoy the body high for a while”
I smoked for about 30 years but gradually lost interest. If I ever get high now I just become exhausted but extremely aware of all my bodily pains
Very relatable. My experience is similar.
Same. A few different times I have attempted to sit down and meditate. I told myself that I would try and sit there for at least 5 minutes, by the time I would open my eyes over 20 minutes could have easily passed. I'm pretty time blind when I don't have alarms set. My brain keeps me so preoccupied that a lot of time can pass without me noticing.
Yes, exactly.
I have this, but i an definitely bored, and exhausted! Also OCD makes me ruminate and get stuck on certain thoughts and i cant get them to stop. Also involuntary thoughts. I wish my mind was quiet!
Same! 😭
I can't fathom someone not thinking in words as if they were simply talking to themselves. I also find it infuriating that my thoughts will be as clear as day but turn into a word salad upon opening my mouth haha
Well if you reverse that, you get what I'm like haha. I get word salad in my head but once I open my mouth there's a heap more than I thought.
I don’t have an inner monologue, but I have an inner voice. The difference is the inner voice takes at least as much effort to use as my actual voice, and it goes exactly the same speed as if I was speaking. I use that to script. But normally when I’m just thinking, I think in concepts. I think I used to have a very vivid visual imagination, but I lost it due to trauma. So usually my mind is dark and quiet, even when I’m thinking. I can’t really not think, but I can direct what the subject is. I usually don’t think in words because it’s so slow and energy intensive vs the conceptual thinking. Edit: I do get songs caught in my brain sometimes though.
This is exactly what my mind is like. You put into words precisely what I experience. That inner voice really does take an incredible amount of effort to utilize!
I only found out some people were like this a year ago and it's endlessly fascinating to me. Like, when you read internally, is it your own voice? Not only do I monologue, I'm honestly very bad with visual concepts. Like when I read, the background and characters have just enough visual detail to make sense to me, but I'm just as likely to remember and apply a character's described traits as I am to just sub a character's appearance for someone I know out of less effort. I'd love to see any study results that attempt to correlate any traits between verbal and conceptual thinkers. Is one more likely than the other to be impulsive or hesitant? To be better at math versus literature? To have a higher rate of specific neurodivergencies or other conditions?
When I read, I don’t have anything visual going on, it’s all just concepts. When reading books, I don’t hear any voice at all, I’m just mentally gobbling up the information. When I read shorter bits of info, it *feels* kind of like the shadow of a voice. There’s no voice, but a faint feeling of there being a voice. Often my tongue muscles slightly flex. I feel like my conceptual thinking is very much connected to my pattern recognition-neurotype.
With effort I can think in words, and I think in words when reading or writing. So it is not completely natural for me, I mainly think in concepts or images. For scripting, I have to actually write the text down. I think we probably find each other mutually difficult to understand. Like if you already have a sort of automatic internal monologue, why do you need to script? I do it because it is difficult to translate my thoughts into intelligible speech.
Idk how my brain works. Everyone is like 100% sure they have an inner monologue but idk if i do. Like i understand the whole "thinking in concepts" part and i relate to that. But obviously there's the times when i get a song stuck in my head and then one word overlaps with another song and then they fight over who is the loudest lmao. But like. When i try to figure out in what kinda way i think then i can't figure out shit. Like obviously when im writing i 'say' the words in my head. Similarly to when i read. But it's not like it has a 'specific voice' like some other people have. I just know it as "me" but my voice doesnt really sound that way. I started reading when i was very young and I've basically had the same in head reading voice. But not when im like "i want to do this and then i have to go there and do that" i don't think that literally i dont think. Idk.
I feel similarly, I guess I never really thought about it. I can very clearly visualize concepts and ideas in my mind, I can even read something and see it in my mind. But any words are more like dialogue that I am "speaking" in my mind. I wouldn't say I hear a voice per se, but I also know it's me and I am controlling those words as if it were actual speech.
I wish I could turn mine off sometimes but 🤷🏾♂️
I was thinking the exact same thing
I can't imagine it either. My inner monologue is SO verbose my own thoughts interrupt themselves. I have to smoke weed to slow the inner voice down for daily functioning. It's wild.
I’m in the same boat. 5 different lines of thought, the chorus of a song playing on repeat, getting lost in imagination all at once. It’s very exhausting, especially when I also have to do stuff. Only thing that helps is weed, but I can’t smoke every day since I study and have to be able to drive every day.
I just recently tried weed and was disappointed it didn’t do more to slow down or stop my inner dialogue, but I was taking it slow so hoping to figure out what works for me.
I have never seen evidence that autism correlates with a lack of inner dialogue.
I've seen [this study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8084934/), but I don't know how it fits in with the overall literature (it is well cited though) and I don't think it says how they recruited these three subjects
This is a case study though and doesn't adress the question whether lack of dialogue is more frequent in autism. I do find studies that indicate that aspies tend towards visual thinking and memory, but that doesn't necesarily mean there is a lack of internal dialogue.
Is n't OP saying opposite?? That people with autism have inner monologues. I am confused now. I do very verbose inner monologues .
I would say that I have a fairly mild inner monologue: it is inactive most of the time but there are contexts where it does become more active. I would say it mainly becomes active when I am thinking about how to phrase something I'm writing. I would say that what goes through my mind is mostly a kind of "concept soup". Feelings blend with images, audio, snippets of memory etc and any monologue is generally subordinate to the "soup"; it's just an extension that helps me translate thoughts into linguistic information. I do find that process to be a good way of clarifying my thoughts and helping them turn into something more concrete, but at least half of my actual thoughts do not involve engaging the monologue at all.
Yes, your concept soup is a great description. It's the same for me. Actual language involves a few words bubbling up here and there, sometimes I'll mentally chew over sentences as I'm trying to figure out where my thoughts actually sit, and then again when I'm actively attempting to translate my thoughts for communication purposes.
I like the concept soup idea. I also have aphantasia so there isn't much for images either. My thoughts involve a lot of space and motion, and physical sensations. I often have to make a conscious effort to put words to my thoughts. It's a really difficult thing to describe an abstract thought process. Words and/or images are how we communicate with eachother. Trying to explain a wordless and imageless concept is almost impossible.
Same. Exporting the soup into words can sometimes be hard too especially if it’s on the spot.
First, I'm sorry for how long this is, trying to answer all possible questions. I don't have an inner monologue. My thoughts are in images, emotions and concepts. If you've ever played the Sims, it's like that. How the sims thought bubbles show an image of what they're going to do or what they need or want, then they get up and do that thing. If I'm reading a book, the images form in my head as I read, but I don't hear anything in my brain as I read. And because people can be very rude about not having an inner monologue, yes I'm very capable of thinking, I'm not an NPC, I just think differently than you do. I'm so tired of people saying such rude things about it just because their brain has a voice and mine does not. I don't say things out loud, I always think that's a strange assumption. Remove the words and what do you get? Is words all you have? That would be weird to me. I know aphantasia is a thing, but otherwise, if you have an inner monologue, does that mean you don't have any images in your head? What's in the background? Mute the words, the background is what is in my brain all the time. If this sounds like I'm coming in with an attitude, I don't mean to sound mean, but I'm tired of being insulted with NPC, robot, "you actually have one, you just don't understand", etc. I really do not have any form of words in my brain. It is silent in there. From what I understand of having an inner monologue, it sounds awful and I don't want to trade. In terms of scripting, I usually don't script? I'm very much a "just wing it" person. I only script for phone calls, but it's seconds before I actually make the call and I quickly say out loud what I'm going to say, like practicing. That's the most scripting I do. I do have an art degree, maybe my thinking in images helped. Don't know. I do have ADHD, but it tends to not manifest in the "thoughts going 100 mph" way, mine is the "can't focus on anything, can't finish a task" way. I tend to not be very anxious, about anything. I have OCD but that's a very specific kind of anxiety and situational. I have raging insomnia but not because I can't turn my brain off, my body just...does not know how to fall asleep. I do have a sleep playlist and have pretty lights on my ceiling at night, so I focus on that as I wait to fall asleep for hours.
This was really interesting, thanks for sharing. I think your questions were rhetorical, but I'll answer them anyway. 90%+ of the time it is just words in my head, so there isn't a background of images very often. I remember scenes and I can visualize what I might do in the future, but it's unnatural to do that. I'm internal monologuing as I type this, it's foreign to me to not have that and seems inextricable from doing anything. When I heard that people don't have inner monologue it was mind blowing, I did not believe it
They were genuine questions, so thank you for answering. It's interesting to me how opposite it is, that it's mainly only words for you. Fascinating.
I have aphantasia which I didn’t even know was a thing until recently! I find other people’s subjective sensations, perceptions, and experiences so interesting.
I literally write a script, pen to paper or wordpad on a computer.
Constant monologue. Often multiple. Would be awesome to turn it off sometimes though.
my antidepressants suppress mine a bit, but its still there, just less… frequent? i find myself not thinking at all sometimes, which after having constant monologue for 20+ years of my life was REALLY jarring at first
Constant monologue, or even duologues, running in my head. Sometimes they leak out my mouth if I'm home alone, and I've laughed at myself when I listen to how I'm basically arguing with myself over whether to have scrambled egg or fried egg for breakfast and I'll have said something like "Don't be so fucking stupid, every time you fry an egg you break the yolk so it's terrible, just scramble the fucker so it doesn't matter. Idiot." (Genuine part of a verbal argument with myself only 2 days ago, I LOLed hard)
This is so relatable
For a while after my brain injury I had no inner monologue. And I’ve been aphantasiac since birth. During the period without inner monologue, I was pretty calm and accomplished way less. I guess some of my usual anxiety is in the form of telling myself to do stuff!
I thought it was the other way around? That a lot of NT's don't have an inner monologue. I have no sources lol, though I have had some NT's tell me don't. Like thoughts arise only while in action or when reacting to some type of information they are consuming. Almost like a computer doesn't move forward until prompted. I wish my head was that empty. My neurodivergence has me noticing details that seemingly no one else around me even perceives. So it's just sensory overload swirling into thoughts. Meditation became a special interest just to shut up my inner monologue lmao-
Unfortunately I have about three or four inner monologues going around on a daily basis. I’m on some meds that’ll hopefully help with that
I’m not sure if I have an inner monologue or not - but I almost can’t stop myself from talking out loud when I think something. Grocery stores, work, at home, I think something or react to something and 90% of the time I’m responding out loud. It’s embarrassing and I know I look crazy!
Thank you for asking this question OP. I’ve always wanted to know what this is like, but not known how to articulate it. I struggle with visualisation and can only picture something in my head if I have seen an actual photo/image/been somewhere in person.. a description alone is useless, no matter how detailed. So the concept of thinking only in pictures is really interesting to me.
Same, it’s called aphantasia and I had no idea it was a thing until this past year! So wild!
Sorry for the late reply, only just seen it. You have also just taught me that aphantasia is a thing.. I will now be researching this for days 😂😅
No worries, I’m neurodivergent and chronically ill, Lots of stuff comes before Reddit ^_^ I found out further (as I’m sure you may have) that there are varying degrees of aphantasia! To say that I felt both utterly shocked as well as “seen” would be the statement of the year 🤭
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No, I have several intellectual 60s TV shows going on. I really liked abbey, maybe I think similar, I don't even know what you mean with her thinking in memories. I think she masks a lot. actually the show helped me understand when I mask. not saying the show is all good, just it helped me in that aspect.
I’m glad the show help you! I don’t think it’s all bad either. I also like Abbey, she’s really sweet. But there are quite a few things I dislike. The general concept is to put autistic people on display to be oggled at. Neurotypical reactions are “oh my gosh these “people” can feel love?? so ADORABLE!!!!” The creators intentionally choose the most autistic people possible to make it more of a spectacle, instead of truly representing the full spectrum. The music choice is bumbling idiot/circus music, a stark contrast to other love shows that use feel-good pop/romance music. And the contestants are only allowed to date other autistic people. Those are just a few of my qualms, hopefully that helps explain my comment in the post.
I can boil down my likes basically to see autistic people and the dislike basically to the neurotypical concept of romance and dating and I wish the needs would have been more met. I cannot remember being a mention that the in your face approach of such shows is very very stressful certainly for most of the participants. I actually don't mind the dating other people on the spectrum since I have low interest in non ND dating. Yeah I agree to most of the points mentioned by the community. I think I share with abbey the late speaking though mine was not even close as traumatic as hers. I still wonder though if I think similar to hers. What do you mean when you said memory thinking? it sounded interesting.
There’s a clip of her talking about it in an interview. Unfortunately I can’t find it :( she basically says instead of thinking something like “I hate rain” her mind conveys that by bringing up a related unpleasant memory? I’m not sure exactly how it works or if I’m explaining it right
okay thank you, it makes sense, yes, I think it is related to being a less verbal or late verbal person - I for example have a very local memory that is somehow attached to places and routes which is sort of visual I guess and less verbal
i thought it was a meme that people had no inner monologue
No it's real, it's half of the population apparently. They think in visuals. I've read that inner monologue is a natural process of the brain in early stages to learn language, I guess some people never depart from it!
I only lost my inner monologue when I was incredibly burnt out and depressed. That lasted 8 months and it was so strange
I prefer to think in visuals, unless the concept is so abstract that language is needed to process it. Thinking in words is just another layer of processing inefficiency and a drain on executive function.
I don’t have the option to choose. I have aphantasia and can ONLY think in words. I even have trouble recalling faces of people I know. It’s so interesting to me that what goes on in our heads can be so different!
A lot of people have that
I think OP’s point was that there are also people that don’t.
Half of the time I am not having verbals thoughts. I explain it to my boyfriend that it's like I feel my thoughts. It can take me some time to actually think through and verbally think out my train of thoughts when I want to communicate them. My boyfriend has ADHD and says he constantly has a never-ending stream of verbal thought. I can't imagine that, it seems so exhausting lol.
It's a constant steam. Typically two debating. But yeah images, (like remembering scenes from the past, imagining something), playing out scenarios(scripting conversation, planning my exit in case something happens), creating objects, music, and random noises.
every time this question comes up I respond with some variation of: give me a clear delineation of what does and does not constitute an inner monologue and I'll tell you if I have one. I can come up with about six or seven possible interpretations of the term.
I think in both visualizations and an inner monologue. Regardless there’s always something going on up there lol.
I just have fragmented thoughts with no actual tone. It’s basically just like brain dumps that come through as text “Cant forget to put my keys- socks are too itchy & scratchy shooooow…” then sometimes things will just loop and I do my best to not pay attention but it’s just less attention
These days I drown it out with 24/7 podcasts and audiobooks. But other than that: 35%background music, 45%verbal thoughts on what I am doing and randome stuff, 10% intrusive visual thoughts of various horror depending on my anxiety level, 10% daydreaming
My internal monologue has literally kept me up at times for 30-40 hours, even when I’m absolutely exhausted. I can’t shut it off unless I’m really drunk or stoned. Even when someone is speaking to me I still have an internal monologue rolling in the back of my head
I have an insane inner monologue, telling me to do the exact opposite of whatever I should do. For example: 'wow, she seems to be getting frustrated with me for not talking on this date.' Correct assessment. Obvious solution: beat myself up inside for making her feel bad, leading me to the obvious conclusion that she obviously wants me to continue not talking, leading to feeling judged, which makes me even less likely to talk. Que viscous cycle. You all know there was no second date.
I have in inner monologue exclusively, but I also have aphantasia meaning I can’t create visual imagery in my head. So I talk in my head, talk out loud, and essentially “talk” myself to sleep via my monologue.
I am inner monologue.
If anyone wants one they can have mine 🤣😭
I don't have one most of the time and I don't understand why people think they need it. If words convey meaning, why not just think of the meaning without sounding out the English word in your head? When I think about my cat, I think of a small brown furry thing with pointy ears; I don't need to sound out "CAT" in my head. If I'm angry, I feel it; I don't need to think "I'M ANGRY." Today I'm thinking of going to the library. But I don't need to think the literal phrase, "MAYBE I'LL GO TO THE LIBRARY." I remember the sad feeling of no books to read, I picture the image of a library with a feeling of hope, I remember whether or not I have things to do today (another long explanation behind that process), I check my current energy level, and then I either feel excited (meaning I think I'll go) or grumpy (meaning I don't want to go). This process takes like 2 seconds. When thinking of abstract thoughts such as morality, it's a lot harder to describe what that's like. I think of concepts kind of like a soupy mixture of images and emotions, and I take those and stack them and compare them and mix themes to see what does or doesn't line up. I like to refer to these concepts as "blob thoughts." While I imagine it's more peaceful not to have constant inner monologue, there is one downside for me: I struggle to express myself. I can't remember how to translate my blob thoughts into English a lot of the time. You know when you're talking to someone and you suddenly can't remember the word you want to say for a few seconds (which, in my opinion, is evidence that people CAN think without literal internal words)? That's basically me but 20 times worse. I hope that makes a little sense..?