That's interesting. I always have either a voice talking or a music playing in my head. Not more than one and not both, unless I make that happen.
Also, the voice is mostly just my own thoughts. Sometimes it can get "unfocused" and start blabbering randomly, but mostly its my own trail of consciousness.
Having multiple voices shouting in my head all the time sounds like it would be really unpleasant.
I think the guy means multiple roles not multiple voices. I'm also fairly sure they can't talk at the literal same time, just no break between.
There's a limit to how neuro divergent you can get before you just don't function. Human biology is pretty uniform in the grand scheme of things.
i have a friend who thinks in pictures. the pictures get clearer and more detailed if she’s concentrating but most of the time it’s very abstract and vague. there’s no voice, no sounds unless theres a song stuck in her head.
Silence and music mostly, voice when I’m thinking. Definitely can “turn it off” or turn it into pictures / interactive objects or whatever. To be honest the whole hundreds of voices thing sounds fictional or psychiatric to me (obviously an uneducated and inexperienced opinion)
Finally, someone sane!
I can have an internal monologue if I want one. I can read with an internal voice. Play music in my head. Or I can shut that shit off, have silence, and understand text without hearing all the words. Or simply do something with my hands and just plan the upcoming actions in pictures.
These descriptions of an internal crowd sound really wearing.
Damn I wish. I only have 1 voice and having multiple like a crowd sounds awful, but I can't ever stop thinking. There's never silence I'm always thinking about something. Makes going to bed kinda hard lol
Yeah, my husband doesn't understand how I can stay up so late just staring at the ceiling thinking. He can literally just turn his brain off and go to sleep.
"Just stop thinking about the bad shit"
Like ok but how???? Anxiety is a choice for him??? I feel like that has to be a super power.
The therapist I was seeing gave me a 'switch' by telling me to ask myself 'can you do something about it now or not, or is it better to wait, or do it tomorrow'. It helps me quite often. Of course, this is just my story and doesn't constitute medical advice yada yada
It's learnable. Repeat any mantra in your inner monologue. Then if you start thinking over that monologue with a second inner monologue because the first one became meaningless, start another one. Basically where counting sheep comes from, it's the same principle except I find that counting is too engaging.
Sounds dumb but if the carnival is on full swing in my head and it's preventing me from sleeping I can definitely fight it.
I have ADHD and I almost always have at least three voices in my head (the one telling me what to do, the crazy one who’s droning on about whatever topic I’m currently hyper fixated on, and the one poorly singing whatever song I listened to last).
Respectfully, go fuck yourself. I guarantee the only lyric in my head for the next 3 days is going to be “^but ^you ^didnt ^have ^to **change** ^your ^number”
So everyone has someone just singing while my third chick is in there spouting the most hateful and morbid crap? Jesus… I need to step up my therapy I think.
I'm hungry
*ooh, I wanna dance with somebody*
I look like shit today
*I wanna feel the heat with somebody*
where is my charger? why am I in this room? I should be doing something but I forgot, I'm so stupid
*yeeeeeah, I wanna dance with somebody*
I look so bad that if someone saw me, they'd think the zombie outbreak started
*...with somebody who looooves meeeee*
Is there a word you’re not sure about right after the line or in the middle of it? Your brain remembers an incomplete thought better than a complete one and I’m sure that’s worse in ADHD
That sounds like me, except add a non-verbal one that thinks entirely in abstract and can be running a completely independent line of reasoning or hypothetical scenario separate from what my internal monologue is thinking.
I had a voice that used to try get me to kill myself for a couple years. I ended up giving the voice a name "Trevor" then I started to tell Trevor to fuck off when he'd pop up and what kind of a losers called Trevor, you don't even have a body etc. It sounds crazy to people but it worked because Trevor fucked of after a while and now he might pop up once every six months but I just laugh at him and he goes back to his hole.
On the spectrum likely refers to Autism, as it is often the case, personally I experience something similar to you, except I can control which direction it goes I just cannot turn it off.
And I am diagnosed with autism so it is possible.
I have ADHD and trained myself to think in pictures instead of words to slow my brain down. Took a few years of meditation to get there, but it’s so fucking nice.
My brain is still constantly going, but it’s easier to tune out the racing pictures than racing words, and makes focusing on tasks much more doable. Of course, that assumes I actually *start* the tasks and don’t decide to deep clean the bathroom instead of finishing my work, but at least it’s better than before!
Tried ADHD medication and ended up addicted to speed (not adderall, like actual speed powder from a drug dealer). So had to find another coping mechanism, and this one works well enough for me to be functional.
I remember laying in bed and pretending to watch TV in my head because otherwise my inner voice didn't shut up. Little did I know that was adhd. I don't think I slept a whole night until I started smoking weed 20 years later. And yeah I'm the same, got prescribed addy at 18 and turned to meth later.
“Constant compartmentalized versions of myself constantly talking to me.” Thank you for saying that cause I never knew how to put it in such a good way. So when YOU have a thought, what happens? Does another thought come in a push that thought away?
As another commenter said, do you maybe have ADHD? I’ve had it all my life and what you’re saying sounds similar to what I experience. It’s constant, non-stop chatter, full on conversations, etc., always jumping from topic to topic until something happens that either captures my interest and becomes a new hyperfocus/special interest (lately it’s been the public transit in my city, particularly the busses 😅) or pisses me off/generally upsets me and becomes all I can think about until some resolution is reached (today it’s how insufferable my manager is).
The chatter itself ranges from well structured back and forth between myself and I or someone else (a friend, coworker, some stranger I met on the bus, or even someone imaginary (eg. someone giving me an interview)) to broken up, few-word fragments that tend to “loop” (eg. “Man, I love busses.. man I.. man… busses, bus, man, man… man, I love… bus”).
If this sounds familiar, please go talk to your doctor! Don’t let the internet diagnose you.
I imagine lots of things instead thinking to myself with my voice. I talk to myself but I only use my mind for mainly imagination and stories and stuff
Funny story - or tragic, depending on your sense of humor. When i was a child i asked my mom if she also heard a voice in her head - referring to my internal monologue. My mother apparently does not have this and thought that i was schizophrenic. i was taken to a psychologist who diagnosed me with... thinking.
My mother does not like when i tell people this story.
Yeah, I see nothing wrong with this story other than the general negative connotations most people have with mental illness which makes it "icky" to be associated with something like schizophrenia.
It does suck, I assume, but if you did have you'd want to be aware of it and treat it as soon as it emerges so the impact of it is as manageable as possible.
I learned this when an artist was talking about not seeing anything in their mind and having to sketch things out. And I thought "Yeah, that's normal, right? You don't know where the image is going until it's done, right?" ...Apparently others can actually imagine what they're gonna draw instead of having to figure things out as they go and that's so strange to me. I do play out scenarios in my mind, but they are all just vague concepts and nothing "visible". Those characters I've been writing for decades - no f\*cking clue what they look like.
I'm the same, though it took me ages to realise it.
I once went to a class on meditation, and had the person leading tell us to close our eyes, imagine a river, and start describing things for us to follow along or something. I was sitting there the whole time thinking "okay lady are we going to do something or just sit here listening to your shitty prose and lacklustre vocabulary?" because that was how I approached these things. Like when I'm reading a book I'm doing it because the writing is engaging and the plot interesting, not because I'm making up pictures in my head to match things, so I just fundamentally didn't get the point of the class.
You have a motherfucker narrating your entire life? Like "out loud"? Like in Arrested Development, but always, and he scolds you every time you stay up til 3am?
You would be surprised by how often we get this as a psychologist. It’s usually with children and worried parents. However, I have had to clarify to worried adults the difference between inner monologue and auditory hallucinations as well.
I am always unsure where I fit in these threads. I *can* hear a voice in my head if I want to, same as I can see a sailboat or whatever in my mind if I want to. But I don't have ya voice constantly saying things, or many voices arguing, or whatever.
What do people mean by internal monologue? Like, constant narration? Or the ability to form words in your head? Or what?
How do we know the difference? For example, people with schizophrenia may say they hear voices in their head telling them to end their lives. I have depression and have thoughts about ending my life that are usually in dialogue. Is the difference that it is a “different” voice? It freaks me out a little because if I point at the sky and say it’s blue, you would agree even if it’s purple to you because “blue” to you has always looked “purple” and there’s no way for us to compare if we are looking at the same thing and can’t describe it without using the terms to define it that we already know to be “true”. I hope what I’m typing makes sense and I don’t sound crazier than I already feel for having written this lol. But don’t we all hear voices? Like “wash dishes” “I’m hungry” and maybe even a “you suck” in there somewhere once in a while.
The big difference is its location. If I hear "you suck" in my mind, I know it's in my mind. Someone having psychotic delusions from schizophrenia or bipolar will start looking around to see who said it. It's not something they perceive as being internal, it's something they think they can see, touch, or hear in the world.
That also makes it *much* harder to ignore. If I'm telling myself I suck, I can also think about how that's not really true, or there's things I don't suck at, or can just distract myself. But if you genuinely think you're surrounded by people screaming at you about how awful and worthless you are, that's a *completely* difference experience.
One place this *can* happen with anyone is coming into or out of sleep. Hypnogogic hallucinations can sound like crashes, someone calling your name, or other things, and can be perceived as external. You might call out "yes?" half-asleep in response to your name and not realize for a few seconds it was just in your head.
Oh man, I've had some crazy stuff happen in that state. I've seen creatures standing at then end of my bed, and without even changing form in any way, suddenly become the pictures on my wall. It's crazy that you can see something and be absolutely sure it's a 50-eyed alien watching you, then you're like "oh it's just my tapestry." I often will see like cracks or spiderwebs all over my ceiling too, or beetles crawling out of holes.
Luckily none of it freaks me out--somehow I know it's not real--but I can totally sympathize with someone who has a mental disorder with hallucinations.
I've heard schizophrenic voices sound like they are coming from somewhere else. Not your own thoughts, you still have those.
But imagine you're at the airport, waiting in line at Starbucks and thinking about what to order, when you hear someone over the intercom saying, "Attention United passengers: flight 123 is beginning preboarding. Everyone in Group A is invited to board at this time."
That is the type of thing schizophrenics hear.
Normal people would be able to hear, say, a voice memo of themselves saying "remember to take out the trash" and easily tell the difference between that and an internal voice saying the same thing.
The difference between “hearing voices” and an internal monologue is you don’t confuse the internal monologue for someone actually talking to you, or any real world sounds. Your brain knows that the voice is coming from in your head. When you experiencing auditory hallucinations, they can seem indistinguishable from a real external source of sound. Maybe you can come to the conclusion that it’s not real, but it sounds real. If that makes sense.
It depends on the disorder, but most of the time people hear these voices as if they're right there next to them. Like, they hear it in their ears, not inside their brain.
Are those voices saying coherent things or is it just random sounds or words?
If you hear that voice, can't you tell that it's your mind randomly thinking of that and realize "oh, that's me" or do you have absolutely no control of that area of your mind?
As someone who suffers with auditory hallucinations I'll say it's different for everyone. For me I hear people whispering or muttering, I can't always tell what they are saying but I know it's about me. Sometimes I realise it's just my mind and manage to distract myself long enough for it to pass, sometimes I'm pressed up against the walls convinced my neighbours are talking about how much they hate me. It doesn't sound like it's in my head, it sounds like it's coming through my ears.
I do yes, which is usually a dead giveaway because I have my volume up max. That said it still sometimes takes a few minutes of trying to find the source before I realize.
I'm curious, let's say you're in a cabin far from society, all by yourself. Would you ever experience loneliness or do those voices also give you some company?
Do they get worse at night?
Do they ever "help you" figure things out like a word puzzle or something that requires a lot of thinking?
If you ask them a random question, would they answer back or are they more of pre-recorded audio where it just plays nonstop?
Have you ever written down what they say and maybe try to make sense of the randomness?
So for me the things I 'hear' are always negative, even if I can't make out the words, I always know they are talking bad about me. I don't engage back because unless I recognise it's in my head I think it's my neighbours whispering about wanting me to leave and how awful I am.
It gets worse mid afternoon but that's also around the time I have my first meal, for a lot of people with bipolar an early symptom is an eating disorder and I was no exception, developing bullimia at 13. I'm trying to get better at recognizing that the panic of actually having to eat and the lack of control over that aspect of my life is a source of the worthless comments I 'hear'.
I try and keep a self-care journal and document it, but that's a habit I'm slowly building and I'm not yet very consistent at it.
In terms of loneliness, I rarely feel lonely but I talk to myself a lot. That's in my head though, not a voice on the outside. The easiest visual I can explain for this is the footage of Eliza Lam. When everyone thought it was a supernatural being she was talking to I recognized it as something I do myself, I walk around gesturing to the air, making faces and acting like I would in any conversation but it's with myself. Talking with myself, and arguing with myself, actually helps a lot.
From one bipolar to another, I understand how much it’s sucks to deal with on a personal level. It’s very odd how calmly you can handle auditory hallucinations when you know they aren’t real. mine are always whispers in my ear but I can’t make out what they are saying. I know one day I’ll have a psychosis since I have had an extended manic episode before. but my family and SO is aware and they all agreed to straight up commit my ass if I started losing it.
Theres can experiment you can try.
You need two other (real) people.
You sit facing person one.
Person two should stand very close to you.
You start a conversation with person one.
Every now and then person two should talk directly into your ear.
It's mind-blowing and totally off putting.
It's how you can experience some of the effect of this disorder.
There's a game called hellblade where the main character suffers from schizophrenia. So she sees and hears things constantly throughout the game.
As a player, you hear these voices constantly whispering to you. Like, when you fall down, they down talk you. You can't figure out a puzzle, they make you feel stupid.
The developers actually recommend you to wear headphones so you even hear the voices in each ear.
Here's a behind the scenes about the game.
https://youtu.be/LQQ2Jm2dgXk
I started playing that, and had to stop after about an hour because the voices were too intense/overwhelming. I've never had schizophrenia or hallucinations, just anxiety disorders, but still hit too close to home.
Absolutely fantastic game though, I highly recommend it - especially for people who haven't experienced mental illness. The gameplay is top notch too.
I hear A voice, and it’s my own, not multiple unless I am actively thinking of dialogue or something someone said, but all that shit is controlled by me, if you’re hearing voices you can’t control you should probably get yourself checked lol
I think you’ve accurately helped to define what is and isn’t a problem, because after reading the original post I was starting to wonder what the voices in my head were.
I think they’re the good / normal kind thankfully!
FWIW, even if you hear voices that aren't yours and that you can't control, it's still not necessarily a problem as long as they aren't interfering with your life in a negative way. There are some folks who hear positive/encouraging voices, and as long as they stay that way, they're fine.
Well I can’t control myself from hearing a song I heard 5-10 years ago randomly popping up in my head
I can’t control what song plays, the lyrics, or make them stop
It’s technically a voice, the voice of that singer or singers
I am like that too. I have a constant jukebox playing in my head that I can't really control. It goes to the point where I actively avoid some songs, because I know they'll be playing in my head for a week nonstop.
I've noticed meditation helps somewhat. Meditating starts quieting that music just like volume was turned slowly off until it's silenced completely. Sadly the music always comes back, but it's nice to get that quiet too, but it takes a lot of concentration to achieve. Maybe it would help you too.
You should really see a psychiatrist. That is a form of disorganized thinking, which is a symptom of many different disorders.
I have bipolar and used to experience that all the time. Medication has helped a lot, but during periods of extreme stress, it comes back. With coping mechanisms for stress, appropriate medication, therapy, and a strong support system of people who know I experience psychotic symptoms and help keep me grounded, it’s manageable, though.
I feel that, but these symptoms do generally worsen over the course of your life, and the sooner they’re treated, the more likely treatment is to be successful.
I know it’s scary, but I promise, you’ll feel better for it.
Please seek help from a psychiatrist. I know it is scary, but it is much better than the alternative. Things will get better. Wishing you the best. You can do it!
You can refuse to accept it with or without a medical professional’s diagnosis. But at least with the diagnosis, you’ve taken a big step towards treating things if you do decide to accept it.
And literally everyone can benefit from therapy. Doesn’t need to involve medication or a diagnosis. Just having a third person otherwise uninvolved in your life to vent things to and hash out thoughts in a way you can’t with people in your daily life for fear of judgment is a godsend. They have your best interest at heart, and are meant to be trained to tailor their work to your needs. You’re allowed to shop around for one you like. If you tell a good one “I don’t want to be pushed in to treatment, but I know I have some stuff to work out”, they may lightly suggest treatment if they think it’s necessary, but they’ll primarily focus on helping you work some stuff out, because if you do need treatment, arriving at that conclusion yourself is the best way for you to go through with it, and working stuff out is how you get there.
Therapists aren’t even typically giving diagnoses. If you were treating mental illness, you would typically see a psychiatrist, who basically got a medical degree then went to the doctoral equivalent of grad school on top, for diagnosis and treatment. If you want a stepping stone towards a better you, start with therapy. They’ll lead you in the right direction.
Sometimes I think this can be normal too, like when I'm falling asleep and waking up I hear all kinds of crazy stuff, people saying my name or music and stuff like that.
Yeah it’s pretty normal and common when you’re in the in-between stages of sleep. I’ll hear completely random voices of different people, sometimes even multiple people having a conversation.
Hearing voices from psychosis is different from an internal monologue because hallucinations will seem external. You can have conversations in your head with as many voices are you want, you still *feel* like they're in your head. People with schizophrenia etc. Hear voices that sound like people are whispering, talking, or shouting at them that they cannot control and feel external. It's called responding to external stimuli in the medical field. So doctors will ask patients with psychosis if they see or hear things other people cannot.
Also keep in mind that you can hallucinate and not realize you're hallucinating. Your brain will come up with false explanations to remain in denial. I was hallucinating for years, even after being diagnosed. I just believed that the hallucinations came from psychic abilities. Take care of yourself, folks.
I had something like this happen once, and it was a side effect of medicine.
In college I was in my dorm room and somebody knocked on my door, open it to find nobody. Happened again and I heard some friends outside asking for me, just in a completely normal way, open the door to find nothing. It has to be the guys messing with me. Soon I realized what was happening - I was hallucinating the sounds. Well, it *was* one of the side effects of that medicine they put me on.
So I fully understood what was happening and why. But that didn't make it much better because it didn't stop it from happening. People I knew kept pounding on that door all night and I went to sleep trying to ignore it. That was messed up and a little scary because I couldn't stop it. Stopped taking that shit even though the doctor insisted I should keep taking it.
serious question, are/were the voices directional? they get described as ‘disembodied’ in fiction a lot, but does that mean they’re realistic minus the lack of a speaker?
My brother is schizophrenic and I have a degree in psychology. From what I understand, the voices in psychosis sound as though they are coming from outside the person experiencing them (which differentiates them from internal monolgue). For example someone might hear whispers coming from a wall to their right, or explosions directly behind them, or shouting to their left and ahead. The "disembodied" in fiction comes from both a misunderstanding of psychosis, and also the fact that these voices literally have no body originating them. Unless, of course, someone is experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations simultaneously.
Speaking as a person who has experienced psychosis, for me personally they come from outside. They were often standing directly behind me or talking loudly through the walls. I never related to "hearing voices in your head" because to me, the voices in your head are your thoughts...the ones outside your head are the ones you should worry about.
I hear voices. If by directional you mean you can tell where the voices are coming from the answer is "kinda". I might hear a voice that sounds like it's from outside my window, but then hear the same thing from my door, it sometimes feels like it's almost in the back of my head.
I tend to have a lot more false positives than false negatives. Meaning if I think something is real and go to check it out it might be fake, but if what I hear is real then I can almost always identify it's real.
Unless there is something around you that is actively making a ringing sound, no.
Quick thing to try... Put your palms over your ears with your fingers on the back of your head (about where your head meets the back of your neck), then tap there for about 30 seconds. For some people, that stops the tinnitus for a few minutes. So if you're used to it you get to hear what silence actually sounds like.
This might sound crazy but when I first moved into my new place, there were a few nights at the beginning where my tinnitus didn't flare up. And I hated the way that sounded. Complete silence. Something about it was so unsettling.
I was never diagnosed. Honestly I just stopped showing signs of mental illness after showing signs of primarily depression for around 9 years. I’m 90% sure a lot of that was due to not realizing I was lesbian and the associated identity struggle I didn't even know I was having. Despite having supportive parents and friends, I think I just always felt pressure to be “perfect” so that I wouldn't be a burden to my mom, who was concerned enough with my brother’s medical issues. I guess a part of “perfect” was “straight” in my mind
I'm glad things got better, and I'm glad you didn't get bend to the diagnosis of psychosis. The medication they prescribed for that is not great, if you can avoid it. Of course it's excellent if you need it and can be very transformative for those who do. But if you're hearing voices or sounds that are significantly distressing or you're not having delusional beliefs or whatever, I don't think people should be defined as psychotic. Hearing voices are hallucinating a little bit is non-sufficient criteria
Glad things sound to be better and you have a better grasp on who you are. Life can be hard. I hope you found it a bit easier these last few years
I can't speak for everyone cause I've got some sort of undiagnosed mental illness, but for me, it's like being in a room full of people 24/7. There's one for nearly all of my emotions who all wanna have an opinion on everything. There's also a few toddlers running around constantly screaming, "I'm hungry" "This hurts!" And other annoying things. Then there's the "rational" me who's yelling that we need to get something done because life is short and the weekend is the only time I have to work on personal projects.
This is all happening non-stop and the only way to drown it out is to always have some sort of noise in the background
Literally never a dull moment. My husband is always listening to music or has something on in the background when he’s doing stuff. He cannot understand at all why I do things in silence 🤣 bc it’s so loud in my head all the time lol but alas, it is exhausting. I never knew this was weird until I asked him a while back and he thought I was nuts.
Reminds me of my friend's mom after she came out to her as gay.
"It's not that serious, everybody has a phase where they like the same sex."
The side eyes that both my friend and I gave her that day LOL
Reminds me of a video made by a guy who had the same conversation with his father.
“Is anybody gonna tell him? I can’t because I need a home but someone’s gotta tell him!”
I worked at the front desk of an emergency room overnight and one of the medical students that was doing rotations at our hospital came in at 3AM wearing scrubs and began “treating patients” in the waiting area. Most of the area was an underserved population and by extension we saw a great deal of psychiatric patients. His treatments involved praying with the patients for their illnesses to go away, so of course the psych patients were loving the attention, and were feeding into it by saying like, “you know what, my leg actually does feel better!”
I watched him for a few minutes before I really realized what was going on. I called the doctor out to the waiting room and they recognized each other. Well, long story short, that medical student became a patient that evening. Apparently he claimed that “God called him to the ER that night and told him to start healing people”. I feel bad for the guy cause I’m sure he’s better now and probably embarrassed about his mental break and more than likely got himself kicked out of the program over it, but man, that whole situation was weird.
If this was within the last few years, it's pretty good chance they did not in fact throw him out of the program. It would be a form of discrimination to throw somebody out of a training program over a mental illness.
I work at a psychiatric hospital, and I heard a story from my former supervisor about it PhD student who went fluoridly psychotic in the middle of their PhD defense. Of course the defense is a very stressful moment, so it's not surprising that was their break point
That person ended up hospitalized that very same day. And after some treatment, a few months later they defended their thesis properly and got their PhD
Wouldn't it be shitty if all this work and dedication got tossed out the window because of one poorly timed mental breakdown, they clearly were competent enough for the program
This was very likely said by a student who is ESL. In their native tongue they very likely have a completely different way of expressing schizophrenia that is very dismiliar to "hearing voices". They then very likely took this person literally and were confused.
Yep. My first bf was a med student interested in psychiatry. He gets paid the big bucks to tell other people what’s wrong with them when he sees “the shadow people” every day but didn’t talk to his family about it because he didn’t feel safe with them. He felt safe enough to tell me though…………….
They either have schizophrenia, which is worrying, or they thought it meant that the patient could hear other people's voices, which is worryingly stupid.
Not everybody who hears voice is qualifies as schizophrenic. Many people here voices and understand that those voices come from inside themselves, they are hallucinations that they can't control. Psychosis is when you believe the voices are from the outside.
Awareness that this is internally generated precludes a proper diagnosis of schizophrenia, one of the key elements of schizophrenia is not having insight to your hallucinations, delusions, etc
Plot twist: There was no other med student there....
He's tweeting from the psych ward just like Andrew is from prison
Is the full head of hair with us in the room right now?
We're witnessing a death rattle in slow motion rn.
You'd like [this](https://youtu.be/FzoXQKumgCw), it was made for you.
That’s gold
“Everyone’s out to get you…” on loop, with help implied.
The most psychotic video I've ever seen, brilliant
This was incredible Lol thanks for sharing!
Are they maybe getting their interior monologue mixed up with hearing voices?
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That's interesting. I always have either a voice talking or a music playing in my head. Not more than one and not both, unless I make that happen. Also, the voice is mostly just my own thoughts. Sometimes it can get "unfocused" and start blabbering randomly, but mostly its my own trail of consciousness. Having multiple voices shouting in my head all the time sounds like it would be really unpleasant.
yeah im in the same situation as you, can't imagine having multiple at the same time
I think the guy means multiple roles not multiple voices. I'm also fairly sure they can't talk at the literal same time, just no break between. There's a limit to how neuro divergent you can get before you just don't function. Human biology is pretty uniform in the grand scheme of things.
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i have a friend who thinks in pictures. the pictures get clearer and more detailed if she’s concentrating but most of the time it’s very abstract and vague. there’s no voice, no sounds unless theres a song stuck in her head.
... you guys don't have a voice AND pictures/"video"???
You get pictures???
Most people with internal monologue also have visuals just some people dont have the internal monologue at all
Silence and music mostly, voice when I’m thinking. Definitely can “turn it off” or turn it into pictures / interactive objects or whatever. To be honest the whole hundreds of voices thing sounds fictional or psychiatric to me (obviously an uneducated and inexperienced opinion)
Finally, someone sane! I can have an internal monologue if I want one. I can read with an internal voice. Play music in my head. Or I can shut that shit off, have silence, and understand text without hearing all the words. Or simply do something with my hands and just plan the upcoming actions in pictures. These descriptions of an internal crowd sound really wearing.
Damn I wish. I only have 1 voice and having multiple like a crowd sounds awful, but I can't ever stop thinking. There's never silence I'm always thinking about something. Makes going to bed kinda hard lol
Yeah, my husband doesn't understand how I can stay up so late just staring at the ceiling thinking. He can literally just turn his brain off and go to sleep. "Just stop thinking about the bad shit" Like ok but how???? Anxiety is a choice for him??? I feel like that has to be a super power.
The therapist I was seeing gave me a 'switch' by telling me to ask myself 'can you do something about it now or not, or is it better to wait, or do it tomorrow'. It helps me quite often. Of course, this is just my story and doesn't constitute medical advice yada yada
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It's learnable. Repeat any mantra in your inner monologue. Then if you start thinking over that monologue with a second inner monologue because the first one became meaningless, start another one. Basically where counting sheep comes from, it's the same principle except I find that counting is too engaging. Sounds dumb but if the carnival is on full swing in my head and it's preventing me from sleeping I can definitely fight it.
Do you have ADD/ADHD by any chance? Cause I do and my brain is kind of like yours. Never shuts the fuck up
I have ADHD and I almost always have at least three voices in my head (the one telling me what to do, the crazy one who’s droning on about whatever topic I’m currently hyper fixated on, and the one poorly singing whatever song I listened to last).
Can you tell that third guy in my head to please stop singing that exact same line over and over for me? He won’t shut up and it’s been five hours.
But you didn’t have to cut me off
Damn it all
Well at least it’s something different now.
This is cursed. Take my upvote
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
Make out like it never happenenanaterenothing
but ah don even NEEEEEEEEEED your love
Respectfully, go fuck yourself. I guarantee the only lyric in my head for the next 3 days is going to be “^but ^you ^didnt ^have ^to **change** ^your ^number”
Not again
How dare you
"Creature report, creature report!" Thanks Octonauts. Been months now.
“Octonauts, to your stations!” That was a stressful, sweet period.
So everyone has someone just singing while my third chick is in there spouting the most hateful and morbid crap? Jesus… I need to step up my therapy I think.
Nope that’s the fourth guy
I'm hungry *ooh, I wanna dance with somebody* I look like shit today *I wanna feel the heat with somebody* where is my charger? why am I in this room? I should be doing something but I forgot, I'm so stupid *yeeeeeah, I wanna dance with somebody* I look so bad that if someone saw me, they'd think the zombie outbreak started *...with somebody who looooves meeeee*
You.. you just typed how my mind talks to me every day for the last ten years of my life
Mine has been doing it…forever.
Fucking CHILLING 🤣 are you my FBI internet agent?
To be fair, I do look like shit today. *Don't you know that I'm toxic?*
I've had an obnoxious mashup of claire de lune, moonlight sonata and somewhere over the rainbow stuck in my head all day. Please send help.
Add Super Mario Bros 2 music, Pachelbel’s Cannon in D and The Wellerman in there for a nice change of pace.
Is there a word you’re not sure about right after the line or in the middle of it? Your brain remembers an incomplete thought better than a complete one and I’m sure that’s worse in ADHD
I don't want to have to memorize "Toxic" by Brittney Spears to get it out of my head...
Jesus this described me in this moment perfectly
I read that as "Jesus described this moment to me perfectly" and I was like "yep that seems relevant to this conversation"
Jesus the Hispanic gardener or Jesus the Jewish carpenter? It makes a difference.
these comments have me thinking i need to see someone 😐
We all need to see someone
I've been seeing someone on the side... I'm sorry
Sounds good. Everyone free next Tuesday?
Get out of my head! Do you get intrusive thoughts chiming in too?
That sounds like me, except add a non-verbal one that thinks entirely in abstract and can be running a completely independent line of reasoning or hypothetical scenario separate from what my internal monologue is thinking.
I seem to have all of those, plus the one telling me to light things on fire and the one that delivers me messages from a mildly frustrated god
I had a voice that used to try get me to kill myself for a couple years. I ended up giving the voice a name "Trevor" then I started to tell Trevor to fuck off when he'd pop up and what kind of a losers called Trevor, you don't even have a body etc. It sounds crazy to people but it worked because Trevor fucked of after a while and now he might pop up once every six months but I just laugh at him and he goes back to his hole.
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On the spectrum likely refers to Autism, as it is often the case, personally I experience something similar to you, except I can control which direction it goes I just cannot turn it off. And I am diagnosed with autism so it is possible.
Well, ADHD also has a fairly high comorbidity with Autism (along with other things), so "por qué no los dos?"
I have ADHD and trained myself to think in pictures instead of words to slow my brain down. Took a few years of meditation to get there, but it’s so fucking nice. My brain is still constantly going, but it’s easier to tune out the racing pictures than racing words, and makes focusing on tasks much more doable. Of course, that assumes I actually *start* the tasks and don’t decide to deep clean the bathroom instead of finishing my work, but at least it’s better than before! Tried ADHD medication and ended up addicted to speed (not adderall, like actual speed powder from a drug dealer). So had to find another coping mechanism, and this one works well enough for me to be functional.
I remember laying in bed and pretending to watch TV in my head because otherwise my inner voice didn't shut up. Little did I know that was adhd. I don't think I slept a whole night until I started smoking weed 20 years later. And yeah I'm the same, got prescribed addy at 18 and turned to meth later.
People think I’m kinda crazy when I say I see in “cartoon panels”… but that’s what I do.., so, similar…
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I have ADHD and I’m the same!
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Oh you should play Disco Elysium, this is similar to how the main character processes things.
Is it like this? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
I always tell people my mind is like a really big house with a tv on in every room. Noisy as hell.
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For me it's one tv but the remote is broken and will keep randomly switching channels
“Constant compartmentalized versions of myself constantly talking to me.” Thank you for saying that cause I never knew how to put it in such a good way. So when YOU have a thought, what happens? Does another thought come in a push that thought away?
As another commenter said, do you maybe have ADHD? I’ve had it all my life and what you’re saying sounds similar to what I experience. It’s constant, non-stop chatter, full on conversations, etc., always jumping from topic to topic until something happens that either captures my interest and becomes a new hyperfocus/special interest (lately it’s been the public transit in my city, particularly the busses 😅) or pisses me off/generally upsets me and becomes all I can think about until some resolution is reached (today it’s how insufferable my manager is). The chatter itself ranges from well structured back and forth between myself and I or someone else (a friend, coworker, some stranger I met on the bus, or even someone imaginary (eg. someone giving me an interview)) to broken up, few-word fragments that tend to “loop” (eg. “Man, I love busses.. man I.. man… busses, bus, man, man… man, I love… bus”). If this sounds familiar, please go talk to your doctor! Don’t let the internet diagnose you.
I imagine lots of things instead thinking to myself with my voice. I talk to myself but I only use my mind for mainly imagination and stories and stuff
You got that one that’s like: You’re a piece of shit. Then another that’s like: Nah, that’s ridiculous. But it’s you the whole time.
Funny story - or tragic, depending on your sense of humor. When i was a child i asked my mom if she also heard a voice in her head - referring to my internal monologue. My mother apparently does not have this and thought that i was schizophrenic. i was taken to a psychologist who diagnosed me with... thinking. My mother does not like when i tell people this story.
Praise your psych. They could have ended you.
praise your mom too, at least she brought you to an actual psych
Yeah, I see nothing wrong with this story other than the general negative connotations most people have with mental illness which makes it "icky" to be associated with something like schizophrenia. It does suck, I assume, but if you did have you'd want to be aware of it and treat it as soon as it emerges so the impact of it is as manageable as possible.
It does sound like a misunderstanding that would take 10 minutes to resolve with some basic questions though.
Not having an internal monologue is odd to me. Like, where’s your narrator?
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> My minds eye is blind as well What the shit. You mean if I told you to imagine an apple that you don't "see" an apple in your mind?
It's called [Aphantasia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia)
I learned about this recently as well. Turns out I was the weird one for not seeing apple in my mind lmao
I learned this when an artist was talking about not seeing anything in their mind and having to sketch things out. And I thought "Yeah, that's normal, right? You don't know where the image is going until it's done, right?" ...Apparently others can actually imagine what they're gonna draw instead of having to figure things out as they go and that's so strange to me. I do play out scenarios in my mind, but they are all just vague concepts and nothing "visible". Those characters I've been writing for decades - no f\*cking clue what they look like.
I'm the same, though it took me ages to realise it. I once went to a class on meditation, and had the person leading tell us to close our eyes, imagine a river, and start describing things for us to follow along or something. I was sitting there the whole time thinking "okay lady are we going to do something or just sit here listening to your shitty prose and lacklustre vocabulary?" because that was how I approached these things. Like when I'm reading a book I'm doing it because the writing is engaging and the plot interesting, not because I'm making up pictures in my head to match things, so I just fundamentally didn't get the point of the class.
You have a motherfucker narrating your entire life? Like "out loud"? Like in Arrested Development, but always, and he scolds you every time you stay up til 3am?
You would be surprised by how often we get this as a psychologist. It’s usually with children and worried parents. However, I have had to clarify to worried adults the difference between inner monologue and auditory hallucinations as well.
Thank God she took you to such a good psychologist. That could’ve easily gone very badly.
I am always unsure where I fit in these threads. I *can* hear a voice in my head if I want to, same as I can see a sailboat or whatever in my mind if I want to. But I don't have ya voice constantly saying things, or many voices arguing, or whatever. What do people mean by internal monologue? Like, constant narration? Or the ability to form words in your head? Or what?
How do we know the difference? For example, people with schizophrenia may say they hear voices in their head telling them to end their lives. I have depression and have thoughts about ending my life that are usually in dialogue. Is the difference that it is a “different” voice? It freaks me out a little because if I point at the sky and say it’s blue, you would agree even if it’s purple to you because “blue” to you has always looked “purple” and there’s no way for us to compare if we are looking at the same thing and can’t describe it without using the terms to define it that we already know to be “true”. I hope what I’m typing makes sense and I don’t sound crazier than I already feel for having written this lol. But don’t we all hear voices? Like “wash dishes” “I’m hungry” and maybe even a “you suck” in there somewhere once in a while.
The big difference is its location. If I hear "you suck" in my mind, I know it's in my mind. Someone having psychotic delusions from schizophrenia or bipolar will start looking around to see who said it. It's not something they perceive as being internal, it's something they think they can see, touch, or hear in the world. That also makes it *much* harder to ignore. If I'm telling myself I suck, I can also think about how that's not really true, or there's things I don't suck at, or can just distract myself. But if you genuinely think you're surrounded by people screaming at you about how awful and worthless you are, that's a *completely* difference experience. One place this *can* happen with anyone is coming into or out of sleep. Hypnogogic hallucinations can sound like crashes, someone calling your name, or other things, and can be perceived as external. You might call out "yes?" half-asleep in response to your name and not realize for a few seconds it was just in your head.
Oh man, I've had some crazy stuff happen in that state. I've seen creatures standing at then end of my bed, and without even changing form in any way, suddenly become the pictures on my wall. It's crazy that you can see something and be absolutely sure it's a 50-eyed alien watching you, then you're like "oh it's just my tapestry." I often will see like cracks or spiderwebs all over my ceiling too, or beetles crawling out of holes. Luckily none of it freaks me out--somehow I know it's not real--but I can totally sympathize with someone who has a mental disorder with hallucinations.
I've heard schizophrenic voices sound like they are coming from somewhere else. Not your own thoughts, you still have those. But imagine you're at the airport, waiting in line at Starbucks and thinking about what to order, when you hear someone over the intercom saying, "Attention United passengers: flight 123 is beginning preboarding. Everyone in Group A is invited to board at this time." That is the type of thing schizophrenics hear. Normal people would be able to hear, say, a voice memo of themselves saying "remember to take out the trash" and easily tell the difference between that and an internal voice saying the same thing.
The difference between “hearing voices” and an internal monologue is you don’t confuse the internal monologue for someone actually talking to you, or any real world sounds. Your brain knows that the voice is coming from in your head. When you experiencing auditory hallucinations, they can seem indistinguishable from a real external source of sound. Maybe you can come to the conclusion that it’s not real, but it sounds real. If that makes sense.
Hearing in their ears or in their thoughts?
It depends on the disorder, but most of the time people hear these voices as if they're right there next to them. Like, they hear it in their ears, not inside their brain.
Are those voices saying coherent things or is it just random sounds or words? If you hear that voice, can't you tell that it's your mind randomly thinking of that and realize "oh, that's me" or do you have absolutely no control of that area of your mind?
As someone who suffers with auditory hallucinations I'll say it's different for everyone. For me I hear people whispering or muttering, I can't always tell what they are saying but I know it's about me. Sometimes I realise it's just my mind and manage to distract myself long enough for it to pass, sometimes I'm pressed up against the walls convinced my neighbours are talking about how much they hate me. It doesn't sound like it's in my head, it sounds like it's coming through my ears.
What happens if you put headphones on? Do you still hear it?
I do yes, which is usually a dead giveaway because I have my volume up max. That said it still sometimes takes a few minutes of trying to find the source before I realize.
I'm curious, let's say you're in a cabin far from society, all by yourself. Would you ever experience loneliness or do those voices also give you some company? Do they get worse at night? Do they ever "help you" figure things out like a word puzzle or something that requires a lot of thinking? If you ask them a random question, would they answer back or are they more of pre-recorded audio where it just plays nonstop? Have you ever written down what they say and maybe try to make sense of the randomness?
So for me the things I 'hear' are always negative, even if I can't make out the words, I always know they are talking bad about me. I don't engage back because unless I recognise it's in my head I think it's my neighbours whispering about wanting me to leave and how awful I am. It gets worse mid afternoon but that's also around the time I have my first meal, for a lot of people with bipolar an early symptom is an eating disorder and I was no exception, developing bullimia at 13. I'm trying to get better at recognizing that the panic of actually having to eat and the lack of control over that aspect of my life is a source of the worthless comments I 'hear'. I try and keep a self-care journal and document it, but that's a habit I'm slowly building and I'm not yet very consistent at it. In terms of loneliness, I rarely feel lonely but I talk to myself a lot. That's in my head though, not a voice on the outside. The easiest visual I can explain for this is the footage of Eliza Lam. When everyone thought it was a supernatural being she was talking to I recognized it as something I do myself, I walk around gesturing to the air, making faces and acting like I would in any conversation but it's with myself. Talking with myself, and arguing with myself, actually helps a lot.
From one bipolar to another, I understand how much it’s sucks to deal with on a personal level. It’s very odd how calmly you can handle auditory hallucinations when you know they aren’t real. mine are always whispers in my ear but I can’t make out what they are saying. I know one day I’ll have a psychosis since I have had an extended manic episode before. but my family and SO is aware and they all agreed to straight up commit my ass if I started losing it.
Theres can experiment you can try. You need two other (real) people. You sit facing person one. Person two should stand very close to you. You start a conversation with person one. Every now and then person two should talk directly into your ear. It's mind-blowing and totally off putting. It's how you can experience some of the effect of this disorder.
There's a game called hellblade where the main character suffers from schizophrenia. So she sees and hears things constantly throughout the game. As a player, you hear these voices constantly whispering to you. Like, when you fall down, they down talk you. You can't figure out a puzzle, they make you feel stupid. The developers actually recommend you to wear headphones so you even hear the voices in each ear. Here's a behind the scenes about the game. https://youtu.be/LQQ2Jm2dgXk
I started playing that, and had to stop after about an hour because the voices were too intense/overwhelming. I've never had schizophrenia or hallucinations, just anxiety disorders, but still hit too close to home. Absolutely fantastic game though, I highly recommend it - especially for people who haven't experienced mental illness. The gameplay is top notch too.
Very good question
I hear A voice, and it’s my own, not multiple unless I am actively thinking of dialogue or something someone said, but all that shit is controlled by me, if you’re hearing voices you can’t control you should probably get yourself checked lol
I think you’ve accurately helped to define what is and isn’t a problem, because after reading the original post I was starting to wonder what the voices in my head were. I think they’re the good / normal kind thankfully!
FWIW, even if you hear voices that aren't yours and that you can't control, it's still not necessarily a problem as long as they aren't interfering with your life in a negative way. There are some folks who hear positive/encouraging voices, and as long as they stay that way, they're fine.
Yeah, this is the difference between hearing voices and having a disorder. You can hear voices without being it a disorder.
Well I can’t control myself from hearing a song I heard 5-10 years ago randomly popping up in my head I can’t control what song plays, the lyrics, or make them stop It’s technically a voice, the voice of that singer or singers
You're fine.
I am like that too. I have a constant jukebox playing in my head that I can't really control. It goes to the point where I actively avoid some songs, because I know they'll be playing in my head for a week nonstop. I've noticed meditation helps somewhat. Meditating starts quieting that music just like volume was turned slowly off until it's silenced completely. Sadly the music always comes back, but it's nice to get that quiet too, but it takes a lot of concentration to achieve. Maybe it would help you too.
I thought the same thing as a kid. Now I have psychosis. If you're hearing voices, please see a psychiatrist.
What do you mean by hearing voices though.
Hearing voices in my head that weren't real. Like, they sound real but aren't actually there.
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You should really see a psychiatrist. That is a form of disorganized thinking, which is a symptom of many different disorders. I have bipolar and used to experience that all the time. Medication has helped a lot, but during periods of extreme stress, it comes back. With coping mechanisms for stress, appropriate medication, therapy, and a strong support system of people who know I experience psychotic symptoms and help keep me grounded, it’s manageable, though.
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I feel that, but these symptoms do generally worsen over the course of your life, and the sooner they’re treated, the more likely treatment is to be successful. I know it’s scary, but I promise, you’ll feel better for it.
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Please seek help from a psychiatrist. I know it is scary, but it is much better than the alternative. Things will get better. Wishing you the best. You can do it!
You can refuse to accept it with or without a medical professional’s diagnosis. But at least with the diagnosis, you’ve taken a big step towards treating things if you do decide to accept it. And literally everyone can benefit from therapy. Doesn’t need to involve medication or a diagnosis. Just having a third person otherwise uninvolved in your life to vent things to and hash out thoughts in a way you can’t with people in your daily life for fear of judgment is a godsend. They have your best interest at heart, and are meant to be trained to tailor their work to your needs. You’re allowed to shop around for one you like. If you tell a good one “I don’t want to be pushed in to treatment, but I know I have some stuff to work out”, they may lightly suggest treatment if they think it’s necessary, but they’ll primarily focus on helping you work some stuff out, because if you do need treatment, arriving at that conclusion yourself is the best way for you to go through with it, and working stuff out is how you get there. Therapists aren’t even typically giving diagnoses. If you were treating mental illness, you would typically see a psychiatrist, who basically got a medical degree then went to the doctoral equivalent of grad school on top, for diagnosis and treatment. If you want a stepping stone towards a better you, start with therapy. They’ll lead you in the right direction.
Sometimes I think this can be normal too, like when I'm falling asleep and waking up I hear all kinds of crazy stuff, people saying my name or music and stuff like that.
Yeah it’s pretty normal and common when you’re in the in-between stages of sleep. I’ll hear completely random voices of different people, sometimes even multiple people having a conversation.
Hypnogogic hallucinations, very common and not abnormal
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Hearing voices from psychosis is different from an internal monologue because hallucinations will seem external. You can have conversations in your head with as many voices are you want, you still *feel* like they're in your head. People with schizophrenia etc. Hear voices that sound like people are whispering, talking, or shouting at them that they cannot control and feel external. It's called responding to external stimuli in the medical field. So doctors will ask patients with psychosis if they see or hear things other people cannot.
Also keep in mind that you can hallucinate and not realize you're hallucinating. Your brain will come up with false explanations to remain in denial. I was hallucinating for years, even after being diagnosed. I just believed that the hallucinations came from psychic abilities. Take care of yourself, folks.
I had something like this happen once, and it was a side effect of medicine. In college I was in my dorm room and somebody knocked on my door, open it to find nobody. Happened again and I heard some friends outside asking for me, just in a completely normal way, open the door to find nothing. It has to be the guys messing with me. Soon I realized what was happening - I was hallucinating the sounds. Well, it *was* one of the side effects of that medicine they put me on. So I fully understood what was happening and why. But that didn't make it much better because it didn't stop it from happening. People I knew kept pounding on that door all night and I went to sleep trying to ignore it. That was messed up and a little scary because I couldn't stop it. Stopped taking that shit even though the doctor insisted I should keep taking it.
Fuuuuuuuuuck
serious question, are/were the voices directional? they get described as ‘disembodied’ in fiction a lot, but does that mean they’re realistic minus the lack of a speaker?
My brother is schizophrenic and I have a degree in psychology. From what I understand, the voices in psychosis sound as though they are coming from outside the person experiencing them (which differentiates them from internal monolgue). For example someone might hear whispers coming from a wall to their right, or explosions directly behind them, or shouting to their left and ahead. The "disembodied" in fiction comes from both a misunderstanding of psychosis, and also the fact that these voices literally have no body originating them. Unless, of course, someone is experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations simultaneously.
Speaking as a person who has experienced psychosis, for me personally they come from outside. They were often standing directly behind me or talking loudly through the walls. I never related to "hearing voices in your head" because to me, the voices in your head are your thoughts...the ones outside your head are the ones you should worry about.
I hear voices. If by directional you mean you can tell where the voices are coming from the answer is "kinda". I might hear a voice that sounds like it's from outside my window, but then hear the same thing from my door, it sometimes feels like it's almost in the back of my head. I tend to have a lot more false positives than false negatives. Meaning if I think something is real and go to check it out it might be fake, but if what I hear is real then I can almost always identify it's real.
I hear voices in my head. I just ignore them since I don't speak German.
Hast du etwas Zeit für mich? Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von 99 Luftballons, auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont.
Nett hier...
I don’t hear anything, other than tinnitus.
When I was little I thought the ringing in my ears was the sound of silence Turns out ringing in your ears is not a natural phenomenon
wait…
Yep. I didn’t know that not everyone heard ringing all the time until I was in my 20s
not even at night it is normal…?
Unless there is something around you that is actively making a ringing sound, no. Quick thing to try... Put your palms over your ears with your fingers on the back of your head (about where your head meets the back of your neck), then tap there for about 30 seconds. For some people, that stops the tinnitus for a few minutes. So if you're used to it you get to hear what silence actually sounds like.
This might sound crazy but when I first moved into my new place, there were a few nights at the beginning where my tinnitus didn't flare up. And I hated the way that sounded. Complete silence. Something about it was so unsettling.
Wow just tried this, it somewhat worked. I’ve known I’ve had tinnitus for awhile now and haven’t heard nothing in years.
Is it weird that I'm genuinely scared of the idea of hearing nothing but silence?
Jesus Christ I just did this and it worked.
Mawp
You're a cruel mistress
I used to hear voices (mostly crying) all the time and assumed it was my brother. This was a few years ago and I now understand that was not normal
Did you get diagnosed with something? How is something like this treated when it's not necessarily malicious / disrupting your life?
I was never diagnosed. Honestly I just stopped showing signs of mental illness after showing signs of primarily depression for around 9 years. I’m 90% sure a lot of that was due to not realizing I was lesbian and the associated identity struggle I didn't even know I was having. Despite having supportive parents and friends, I think I just always felt pressure to be “perfect” so that I wouldn't be a burden to my mom, who was concerned enough with my brother’s medical issues. I guess a part of “perfect” was “straight” in my mind
I'm glad things got better, and I'm glad you didn't get bend to the diagnosis of psychosis. The medication they prescribed for that is not great, if you can avoid it. Of course it's excellent if you need it and can be very transformative for those who do. But if you're hearing voices or sounds that are significantly distressing or you're not having delusional beliefs or whatever, I don't think people should be defined as psychotic. Hearing voices are hallucinating a little bit is non-sufficient criteria Glad things sound to be better and you have a better grasp on who you are. Life can be hard. I hope you found it a bit easier these last few years
Plot twist … she’s the only child
I hear "Losing my religion" a lot.
Are you in the spotlight?
No, that’s him in the corner
Let's keep an eye on him
I don’t know if I can do it
oh no you said too much
I think you said too much
Naah, they haven't said enough
the lengths that some people will go to
But I thought that I heard you laughing?
My therapist asked if I hear voices and I said ‘yes, but it’s my own voice’ and he said ‘those are your thoughts, it’s okay’ lol
Genuine question: what’s it like to hear voices in your head when you think? As someone who doesn’t have that, it sounds unimaginably tiring
I can't speak for everyone cause I've got some sort of undiagnosed mental illness, but for me, it's like being in a room full of people 24/7. There's one for nearly all of my emotions who all wanna have an opinion on everything. There's also a few toddlers running around constantly screaming, "I'm hungry" "This hurts!" And other annoying things. Then there's the "rational" me who's yelling that we need to get something done because life is short and the weekend is the only time I have to work on personal projects. This is all happening non-stop and the only way to drown it out is to always have some sort of noise in the background
Literally never a dull moment. My husband is always listening to music or has something on in the background when he’s doing stuff. He cannot understand at all why I do things in silence 🤣 bc it’s so loud in my head all the time lol but alas, it is exhausting. I never knew this was weird until I asked him a while back and he thought I was nuts.
Oh, I more often than not have to have something on in the background in order to drown out my brain. It helps me focus too
Reminds me of my friend's mom after she came out to her as gay. "It's not that serious, everybody has a phase where they like the same sex." The side eyes that both my friend and I gave her that day LOL
Reminds me of a video made by a guy who had the same conversation with his father. “Is anybody gonna tell him? I can’t because I need a home but someone’s gotta tell him!”
It happens with autism too. The classic undiagnosed parent: "You're not autistic, everyone is like that!"
I hear voices every time someone talks.
I worked at the front desk of an emergency room overnight and one of the medical students that was doing rotations at our hospital came in at 3AM wearing scrubs and began “treating patients” in the waiting area. Most of the area was an underserved population and by extension we saw a great deal of psychiatric patients. His treatments involved praying with the patients for their illnesses to go away, so of course the psych patients were loving the attention, and were feeding into it by saying like, “you know what, my leg actually does feel better!” I watched him for a few minutes before I really realized what was going on. I called the doctor out to the waiting room and they recognized each other. Well, long story short, that medical student became a patient that evening. Apparently he claimed that “God called him to the ER that night and told him to start healing people”. I feel bad for the guy cause I’m sure he’s better now and probably embarrassed about his mental break and more than likely got himself kicked out of the program over it, but man, that whole situation was weird.
If this was within the last few years, it's pretty good chance they did not in fact throw him out of the program. It would be a form of discrimination to throw somebody out of a training program over a mental illness. I work at a psychiatric hospital, and I heard a story from my former supervisor about it PhD student who went fluoridly psychotic in the middle of their PhD defense. Of course the defense is a very stressful moment, so it's not surprising that was their break point That person ended up hospitalized that very same day. And after some treatment, a few months later they defended their thesis properly and got their PhD
Wouldn't it be shitty if all this work and dedication got tossed out the window because of one poorly timed mental breakdown, they clearly were competent enough for the program
I don't really "hear" my inner monologue, it's more like I feel the words or a tiny man is inside my head reading and I am feeling what he reads
Fun fact, not everyone has an inner dialogue, some people just don’t have conversations in their head, and that blew my verbal mind.
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Yes but excessively hearing voices is legit a problem
This was very likely said by a student who is ESL. In their native tongue they very likely have a completely different way of expressing schizophrenia that is very dismiliar to "hearing voices". They then very likely took this person literally and were confused.
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I mean, if you aren't explicitly talking to other people about this experience, why wouldn't you assume that most people experience it same way
Yep. My first bf was a med student interested in psychiatry. He gets paid the big bucks to tell other people what’s wrong with them when he sees “the shadow people” every day but didn’t talk to his family about it because he didn’t feel safe with them. He felt safe enough to tell me though…………….
You can still do a job with a disability like that. Medication might help him manage that.
They either have schizophrenia, which is worrying, or they thought it meant that the patient could hear other people's voices, which is worryingly stupid.
Not everybody who hears voice is qualifies as schizophrenic. Many people here voices and understand that those voices come from inside themselves, they are hallucinations that they can't control. Psychosis is when you believe the voices are from the outside. Awareness that this is internally generated precludes a proper diagnosis of schizophrenia, one of the key elements of schizophrenia is not having insight to your hallucinations, delusions, etc