As this seems to bother you I think having a sit down with your doctor would be of value. I did some reading on this because before I went on some meds I was going over the same unconnected stuff every day over and over. Talking to yourself by itself may mean nothing. Some people do this all the time. I worked with a guy that mumbled under his breath. Kind of a keeping track of which step he was doing I think. If your talking to yourself and repeating over and over some traumatic event in your life that might (for example) be PTSD or Anxiety. The thing to do is not worry about it but set up a sit down with an expert and see what they think. I think you are ok but your worried so here is how to put that to bed. School can become high pressure as you get closer to graduation. These are things you can recognize for what they are and put that in its place.
hi redman88. I have the same problem and also don't know what to do about it. However with the help of my psychiatrist I stopped a couple of meds that may cause a sedation effect and other side effects. Since then I've talked to myself less. I found I seem to talk to myself more when I'm drowsy.
I do the same thing, but I speak out loud whenever I'm alone. I explain my views, describe people and situations, and do my best to educate someone, even though noone is there. To the people talking about how positive self talk can be, it's only positive when you can stop. I talk so much my jaw hurts and my tongue goes numb, literally. I have ADHD as well, so yeah, it stings sometimes. It's frightening, but I just do my best to focus on the essentials. I wish you all the luck in the world with your struggles OP.
I have this exact problem and I have ocd I think you’re just ruminating because you’re bored maybe you don’t talk to people as much or socialize or have a girlfriend. Low dopamine can cause you to ruminate because it’s enjoyable and you become addicted to it and your brain hardwired into this habit. Sometimes when you wire into habits during puberty it’s very difficult to get out of it. You need to meditate and cut out all stress in your life. But seriously stop it cold turkey or your prefrontal cortex will develop abnormally. It ruined my life I seriously have been doing nothing but this the past ten years in my house and it’s ****** me up. Meditate and exercise will release dopamine like caffeine. Snap out of it before its too late.
i am having the same problem for about (as long as i can remember)...i dont even remember when i was normal. whenever i do something or do nothing, always I think of different things in different prespectives. its like im having an office meeting in my head, with lots of myself with defferent point of view. recently i talked to a doctor, and he didnt even hear anything just gave me anti depressents... i cant have any pills, cause, from past ,,, i was an addict of sleeping pills. i tried lots of illegal drugs to get free from this constant thinking. i used to get relief for some time when i was on drugs. but, now things are different, i dont like taking them anymore, they all have stopped working for me... i think i can not be normal . its how god made me. so, i just want to get older and die naturally. its all i ask for now. i just want to get out of the tv series called "LIFE" . i dont know how, people act their role in life without realizing it. that all of this is a movie. (a verrry b boring one) . i dont like anything. even when anyone talks to me about something, i can tell which word he will use next. to me, life is a verry boring movie & i just want to get free
Is there anything to do to stop carrying on conversations with myself. I need help
I also do this, and I also hear voices but in total honesty I think there is nothing wrong with talking to yourself, it helps make better decisions going through scenarios in your head.
You are completely normal but a little anxiety in there. Self talk is inside everyone... its a safety mechanism. Google self talk and read all about it. Stop worrying. .your fine and normal. I self talk all day long. Im 51 with anxiety probs, stress probs and life long depression . I just learn to live with it now. Its a benefit not a hinderance... trust me.
Good sir, this exercise in mindful awareness of inner dialogue is very advanced, powerful, and very concise. I thank you for it!
Guys, what you are describing sounds a lot like a dissociative disorder, for example DDNOS (dissociative disorder not otherwise specified) or DID (dissociative identity disorder. Hearing voices in your head and being in dialogue with them is one of the most important criteria for the diagnosis. Good news: it does not sound like you are schizophrenic! If you were to hear voices outside your head, like somewhere in the room, that would be a an indicator for schizophrenia. Hearing voices/ dialogue inside your head is a an indicator for DDNOS or DID. Next piece of good news: DDNOS and DID can be treated. Given time and good treatment, you can recover from it 100 %. For starters, I recommend reading books on Structural Dissociation, such as The Haunted Self by van der Hart/ Nijenhuis/ Steele, Becoming Yourself by Alison Miller or Got Parts? by ATW.
Hey Adam
I was wondering if your problem has already stopped and if so what measures you took because I'm facing the same problem since about a week ago and I really can't afford going on like this.
I would highly appreciate and value your response.
Hi Adam,
My name is Andy. I might be able to give some practical suggestions with your problem. I've had similar problem. I haven't managed to get a rid of it entirely yet, but at least I have a lot of control over it now.
It might sound surprising but I can see a lot of positive things "between the lines" of what you've written. You are not mad or insane: you are able to put the ideas together in logical fashion and you can clearly identify the problem and your own feelings related to this problem. I spent some time in prosecution office long time ago and had a chance to read couple of testimonies of people who were diagnosed with mental diseases: trust me, if you saw what I saw there you would feel better straight away.
But ad rem: your first job is to start doing simple baby steps exercises. This self talk which is obviously compulsive, surely has a form of sentences in your mother language. When this compulsive dialog comes I want you to grasp one of those sentences and decide to change it's form, by altering the vocabulary for instance (If the statement like: "I'm worried about tomorrow's exam" comes, I want you to change it for something like: "I am scared because I will be attending the exam next day"). You need to make a conscious effort to alter it, so it means the same, but wording and syntax is different.
The second thing to do is to try consciously to change the topic of your self talk. If you start talking about lets say cars, change it to talk about trees or good food or something.
The third thing you need to do is to sit in your room and again CONSCIOUSLY start describing what is in your room (using self talk). Say to yourself something like: I'm sitting on chair, in front of me there is a desk and so on.
Now, the extremely important thing is: when you do those exercises DON'T SAY THEM LOUD AND DON'T WRITE ANYTHING DOWN. You need to do them silently, within your mind. It is likely, that it will be hard for you at the beginning, but don't worry, it's perfectly normal.
If you practice them for some time you will begin to see the difference between your compulsive talk (which is actually by-product of sub-conscious mind) and the thoughts, that you CONSCIOUSLY try to produce according to your WILL. It will give you the sense of control of your thoughts as well. Note, that when you wrote this post, you had that control, because you had some ideas in your mind that you wanted to share, and you were able to put them in sentences like you wanted to. So, in fact, you can control the stream of ideas going through your head, it's just a matter of motivation and effort rather than objective ability.
Last thing: why you need to do this in your head? Because everything starts there, always. If you say them out loud or write them down, you just repeat what's already done. When you practice quietly, then you have a chance to gain control straight at the source of your thoughts.
Now: those exercises alone are just the beginning. Human mind is way more complex and tricky for simple solutions. So let me know, when you go through them for some time and get familiar with the idea, so we can proceed a little further.
All the best to you.
Pleas take the time to read this. Thank you.
My name is Adam. I'm 18 years old in my first year of university.
For at least the past 24 months now I have been conversing with a voice inside my head. I've read through the above comments and a lot if them have different elements that relate to my case of 'head talking'...
To try and keep this short(ish), I think, based on the above comments i have read above that I may have depression or anxiety or both. The thing is I don't know because 1. I've been too scared to tell anybody invade I become some sort of 'freak' and 2. Because I don't know enough about these mental illnesses.
The biggest problem there though, is that over the past 24 months when te talking has been an issue, I just cannot focus, study or concentrate on anything. I'm amazed I got into university. I tried to study for my A-levels but it was just so hard; not being able to solely focus on my research because I'd be talking to myself internally the entire time. The problem relating to the above is that whenever I try to sit down and research anxiety or depression, my brain goes Into overdrive and won't leave me alone, talking to me constantly and it prevents me from concentrating because the thought process from my brain about absolutely stupid, random, scary and downright sickly thoughts is just too much.
Somebody mentioned that the longer you have a conversation you have with yourself, the worse it gets and it can lead to frustration, irritability and anger. I've been lay in bed for the past hour and it's flown from simple conversation with myself (without actually vocalising a single word) to me questioning my own sanity and searching the internet for answers. Whether I found them or not I don't know but I'm getting desperate here. It's bad enough this voice keeps me distracted from educational studies, but I don't want it to completely isolate me from my family, friends, girlfriends or colleagues.
Truthfully I'm scared. I'm terrified. Even when I was in 1 on 1 counselling as a 15-17 year old, I never once told my psychologist that 'there's a voice inside my head' because I couldn't bear the thought of him saying I sound like a depressed or anxious person. The only irony in this is that the one thing that held me back from telling my psychologist about all this, was my own inner voice quoting the line 'the voices inside my head are telling me to kill people'... And it made me think that I sound just as mad as who ever said that line in the first place. I haven't watched the film but that line, that one line. It held me back. Two years on I can't take it anymore.
Please somebody, anybody, everybody, respond and let me know, thank you.
My vote is for anxiety. I have this issue too every few weeks when trying to sleep or withdrawing from an anti-anxiety drug. you may want to discuss with your doctor.
Cheers buddy, thanks for the advice I think I will seek medical help
bumping this.....anymore advice out there? I know it's a ridiculous thread lol
I can understand perfectly what you're saying here. I too hold conversations with myself and my 'inner voice' is constanting winding it's way relentlessly thru anything and everything.
I frequently wish there were a 'switch' that I could just turn it all off, even for an hour or two.
The only way you can find out for sure what's causing it is to seek medical help.
Don't put it off..the sooner you narrow it down the better off you'll be.
For me it's anxiety and depressive disorder that causes it. Brain chemicals get out of wack and therefore so do your thoughts sometimes. The brain and nervous system becomes over stimulated or understimulated and the results present themselves in many different ways.
Go to your family doctor and discuss this situation with him/her. There is no reason to allow it to affect your life in any way as there are sucessful treatments for it, if needed.
Treat it early to prevent it from having greater impact on your life. Take care.