IS TALKING TO ONE SELF TYPICAL BIPOLAR DISORDER.

[clipperlover]

I HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER TYPE 1 AND I TALK TO MYSELF IS THIS TYPICAL?

[ILADVOCATE]

It would be best to discuss this with a psychiatrist and see if you are speaking your thoughts out loud or vocalizing voices (auditory hallucinations) you are hearing. They could then better advise you what to do and follow up as regards what would be the appropriate treatment depending on exactly what is happening. If you are already seeing a psychiatrist make sure to update them about this and then they could take further steps from there on what to do and how to help you.

[Labhra]

Ok, i see my last comment showed up so all is well,.. anyway i see it has been a while since anyone posted here not sure why so i will ad my post to the forum anyway in hope anyone may have any feedback or advice to give.

I also talk to myself but seems i do it silently and only my bottom lip is moving and i am trying to stop as it is very embarrasing when out in public or on the train or in a bar, etc..just my lips are moving but no real talk or sound but i am getting very strange looks lately and laughed at as well as i'm sure some think i am crazy which i am not i am of very sound mind otherwise only for this bad habit,...as i believe i am doing this and not even realising it.

Also when i read i tend to read with my whole mouth moving as if i have to make the words sound to me to be able to comprehend it,, is this weird or what,? Or does anyone else do this when reading,,? Then i guess it carries over to when i think i am moving my mouth again to even think to myself, .. I hate it, i am trying to stop and am trying different things like holding my mouth shut and tongue against my teeth but i think it somehow just still moves, as i say its causing me a lot of stress and embarrassment when i am out and i want to stop it before it drives me totally crazy.

I never did this when younger it is just in the last 5-7 years it seems when i started it and it seems to have progressively worse over time.

Is there any help available for this problem does anyone know,? Would a therapist help with this matter i wonder,? I need help badly with this problem as it is ruining my life socially, professionally, and every other way,.. Feeling desperate about it now and i think i need help quickly,.. Has anybody got help for this and overcame it,? If so, how did you do it.

Thanks, i appreciate any feedback or advice.

[Labhra]

I made a post here a few days ago but it never showed up , what could be wrong anyone know.?

[Bluetwo]

I tried to be careful about talking to myself when my kids brought over their friends. I double check if they had company. When in doubt I have the cat around to talk to. Nothing wrong talking to your cat because felines need extra attention.

But I usually have "radio silence" while my kids had their friends over.

[Narnia41]

Good point, if it were so easy to cure BP by just 'taking deep breaths and everything will get better' there sure would be alot of Psychiatrists out of work.  If only others did understand it would make life so much easier for us all.  I find it easier nowadays just not to even try and explain to my friends and family, as I've come to accept that it's just too hard for them to understand.  Instead I tend to isolate myself and avoid contact as I feel safer that way.

But yes it is also a very individual experience for us all, some with psychotic features which I am lucky not to have experienced.

[Xila31]

I agree with you that others do not understand. When you try to explain that you're depressed and they say, "Well you just need to put on a happy face." or "Everyone has their ups and down." Oh yeah, sure they do, of course, but not due to a chemical problem in the brain. My favorite is, "Just take a deep breath and everything will be better." Just imagine, millions of psychiatrists world-wide could be out of work tomorrow if we all just take a deep breath. Wow. Why didn't Freud or Jung think of that one?

Anyway, I agree that bipolar is to ride the roller coaster of sever mood swings. But it is much more than that. Some of us have ghosts and voices and faces in the dark on our rides. Things that aren't really there. Things that made sense to us yesterday now become a twisted confusion. People "whispering" behind our backs when they're not. Bipolar is a thrill ride, that's for sure.

I think the main question here is: when you talk to yourself are you talking to you or to something else that actually talks back, (auditory hallucination.) That's the real question. I think both are common in bipolar, but one is psychosis and the other is not. I think most people talk to themselves, bipolar or not, but most people don't talk to someone who they think is not themselves who answers back.

[Narnia41]

I like your description of Bipolarity in your last paragraph!

I confided in my friend today that I'm just coming out of a deep depressive episode, to which she replied 'yes, I've been abit low too' She then went on to say...'I think everyone is Bipolar to some degree' this really annoyed me as she clearly has NO IDEA.  I don't expect her to understand, how could she?  It's very annoying when others seem to think we are all self indulgent in our suffering.

[adel_ezz]

I agree with you totaly. Yes I talk sometimes to myself. BUT when I discover that somebody else notices this, I stop right away. So apparently it isn't done supposedly because here lies the contradiction, so whereas I don't see anything strange in talking to myself but I don't like other people to remark this. I guess it has to do with the definition of speaking because speaking means you direct your words to somebody else so the persons around you since they don't see anybody else around you they take you for weird at least. But i bet they speak to themselves at times, like you said "untangling the knots in their heads "

My theory at least for the bipolars like us who have reflexions all the time about whether they are right or wrong, whether this phenomenon is right or weird, have total inconfedence about themselves, is NOT to question everything as being right or wrong and whether it's a sign of BP or not. What happens to you has happened and still happens to millions around the globe. Talking to onself is nothing but speaking loudely to reason more and to try to search to convince yourself strongly. Full stop.

Comrades: Bipolarity is no more than extreme mood swings, a fluctuation in your energy between extreme lack of energy and wanting to die and have peace from this apathy to life and being numb and a huge energy that carries you to the unknown. THAT IS ALL. We have to accept ourselves as we are created this way, it's a matter of our privacy, and let no one objects to this, so long that we don't harm others and that is the clue (mood stabilizers) and above all not hurting ourselves.

[Xila31]

Not sure if talking outloud to yourself is an actual symtpom of bipolar or any mental illness actually. I guess since it appears she would talk to herself outloud in front of other people when she was aware they were in the room, then maybe she has something going. Can't say for sure. I know that talking to myself helps releive my repetitive thinking in that I feel like I'm untangling the knots in my head as I talk things over with myself. However, it also makes it worse because I am talking myself in circles. Does that make sense? Like rocking or pacing or figiting, it helps releive anxiety but it doesn't actually help remove the problem.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

You don't exactly have to have a family history of a mental illness to get it but this of course always helps.

[ADHDBMX]

I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and didn't think it ran in my family, only depression and ADHD.  But my mother has talked to herself out loud my whole life and I accepted it as normal.  I was a little embarassed by her in highschool because I felt like my friends noticed her odd behavior.  Is this maybe linked to my bipolar.  

[Bluetwo]

I do a lot of thinking on the toilet but shower time is decision time or it could be the other way around. LOL :)

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I'm joking by the way. LOL

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I have an online message board forum in my toilet that I admin.

[Bluetwo]

"you just think and reason loudely..."
That's different. When I get into a any business transaction I'll reason out the pros and cons out loud. I usually hash it over for three days. My home bathroom is my board room.

[zsadia]

Of course it's normal! I talked to myself under my breath even before I was diagnosed! It's just a natural part of one's thinking to oneself, calming oneself down, talking negatively/positively, trying not to be afraid, and trying to convince oneself to feel normal. The use of lamotrigine/lamictal however can sometimes add to visual/auditory hallucinatons.

[adel_ezz]

even if you have arguments. you just think and reason loudely, sometimes to convince yourself. Don't you see Indians move their heads forth and back when speaking, or the mediterranean people like the egyptians, italians and spanish use their hands while speaking. Why do they do that, it's for assuring something to somebody else contrary to the British, etc... etc... etc...

[Bluetwo]

I talk to myself all the time.
You know your doing okay if you don't have arguments...

[Xila31]

I talk outloud to myself all the time. I talk like I'm "practicing" what I would say in this or that imaginary situation or things I want to tell people. I do it more when I'm having racing and repetative thoughts, but even when I'm not it is common for me to do this.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

It can happen with or without mental illness, I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar disorder and rather a psychotic disorder but I sometimes talk to myself to rehearse conversations or to "think out loud".  I used to do the talking to myself where I would look to the side like someone was actually there and I don't know why, when I was younger.  I didn't imagine someone was there, I just did it for no reason and it was like I was receiving replies from this nonperson even though I had no thoughts or anything coming to me for their "replies" but I would reply back like there was a reply but there was no reply in my head or in the environment.  I don't know child psychology so I don't know for sure what that was about.

[adel_ezz]

completely normal, has nothing to do with bipolarity. don't blame the latter for everything. my father talks to himself often and is not bipolar. when i was in college i see my colleagues reciting the lessons and many of them including myself say if the question is so and so then i should answer this and that. most people for example sing while bathing, my siblings, myself, my cousins and when i swim in the club then going to shower afterwards is pleasant because people sing while showering. pls don't attribute what happens to you to bp. what you feel has been felt by millions before you.

talking to oneself means you want to make sure of a certain thing or you reason loudely. period

[ILADVOCATE]

Yes it can happen. It depends whether you just are speaking to yourself or are hearing voices (auditory hallucinations). Speak to your psychiatrist about this.