Schizophreniaish question

[Toad]

Don't really know where to put this...so...in off topic it goes
So lately I've been starting to realize all the weird things I do...starting to freak myself out, but anyways this one has been bugging me for a few days. Basically I was just wondering if it's considered "normal" to talk to yourself a lot, or have conversations in your head. I know hearing voices in your head would be schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder...but I really can't imagine anyone who doesn't do this...cause it really just seems like thinking to me. Like every night when I'm trying to go to bed I converse with myself, or talk to other people in my head...sometimes I can control where the conversations are going and other times I really can't so I just go with it. Sometimes I'm not in the conversation, and sometimes I don't really realize I'm doing this until after I've been talking for a while. Happens during the day also...kinda bugs me cause it makes it hard to concentrate. I mean...take last night for instance, one discussion I had was I talked about the post I'm making now, and then some of you responded...of course I know it was me responding to myself. Had a couple of other conversations, but I think you get the idea.
They don't really seem like daydreams, cause I normally don't visualize anything when I do this, sometimes I do but most of the time I don't. Just seems like I'm playing out scenarios...anyways...I'm hoping this is just a stupid thread, but I'm not sure of much of anything anymore *crosses fingers and hopes I'm not crazy*.

On a completely different note...anyone know a good way to stop a twitch...my eye has been twitching for the past week, I'm pretty sure it's just cause I'm worried about finals, but it's annoying as hell.

 

[Scottish_Player]

Hey Toad, your not alone here ive had this ever since i can remeber.I ve tried lightly bringing up the subject with a few people just to see their reaction but soon stop once its clear that the dont know what iam talking about.

I done a post on this a while ago,i have a voice in my head that talks to me alot of the time and whats strange is that he says things that i would never say so this is how i know iam not just talking to myself, i can actulay have full conversations with him and i know how weird this sounds and if someone told me the same i would think it was a bit strange.

I also do the talking to myself which is totaly diffrent from what ive said above and i can tell the diffrence between the two, like for example if iam talking my self through a job iam doing at work then this is me talking to myself but the other voive in my head can just come in anytime and its not when anything in particular happens :roll:

I know how strange,wierd and f***ed up this sounds but i keep it all in my head ,i dont walk about talking to people that arent realy there and iam not crazy (well i hope not lol ) i think if people where alot more honest and not scared of what others thought then you would find this happens to alot more people than we think.

 

[Toad]

Thanks for the response...not exactly what I was hoping for though :? . Guess I can tack another one up on the "Oh fuck maybe I have this" list. *sigh* I should really see someone so I don't have to wonder anymore. Sorry if the part about being crazy came off as a little harsh...just seems like everything I read is saying "You live your life the wrong way"...very frustrating. I swear pretty soon being left-handed will be a mental illness. Argh. Thanks though...better to know I suppose.

 

[Scottish_Player]

Hey Toad,

Its strange with me thought,cause the voice i hear dosent realy bother me,its almost like part of me now as i have become used to it/him.
I dont know much else to say on the subject that can put your mind at ease :?:

 

[worm]

My brother has paranoid schizophrenia so I know a little bit about the subject. I believe schizophrenia is much more complex then just simply having conversations with yourself.

Like for example my brother has had full blown delusions about:
people coming to kill him, working for the FBI, being responsible for saving the city of Detroit, being spoken to through the radio, and finding one of our long lost relatives.

Sometimes I hear him talk to himself and it really makes no sense at all. Like he will just make funny voices and laugh weird.

Maybe the strangest part about it is he believes he is completely normal even though he has been hospitalized serveral times for weeks at a time. But even if you bumped into him on the street you probably would never even know about his condition.

 

[Scottish_Player]

Hi Worm, sorry to hear about your brother.Iam not saying i have schizophrenia iam just saying that i have a voice in my head that talks to me and right now he isant talking to me because he dosent like me telling people about him. I know how weird it sounds what i am saying and how crazy i must seem but iam not.

My Theory

You know how phycics and mediums say they have a voice in there head i think they call it their guide or somthing well thats what i think i have also,My guy is called Eddie and he talks to me,i think i have started talking to him because i have problems and i have no one to talk to about them,and i mean no one.And to be honest i think if i didnt have him to talk to things would be alot worse for me mentaly,because when i talk to him its lets me get it all out this is so hard to explain when i know people are going to think starigh away that iam MAD but iam not.He has actulay told me things that have come true and what to do in certain situations that iam lost in. I'll leave it at that for the moment i dont want to go into a big story about it.

 

[Jordan]

- I don't think this is off-topic.
- Agree.
- This happens with me on a regular basis.
- Same here.
- Hey, this is *my* post. Do you mind leaving me alone?
- OK, OK, as you wish. Talk with me soon, bye!

Just kidding, but I agree with S. Player, its much more common that we may think. That commonplace idea that "talking by yourself" *must* be a symptom of some psychotic disorder is silly. From the simple thinking aloud to more sophisticated conversations, plenty of people do it.

I daresay that plenty of creative writing is related to this. Carrol's Alice allegedly conversed with herself, and I bet that he was also speaking about himself when he made this claim. Nor I can think of complex scenes written for theatre without the support of a mind that is able to be inside each and any character - at once.

OTOH, details differ greatly. For me, this is done while reflecting, in which case it's nothing but duplicates of myself (and tends to agree a lot). This could also be done in anticipating something that is forthcoming, just like could be done by an actor before an actual event.

Some of the instances that you have described don't belong to my own experience, namely where such voices seem to acquire an autonomy and stop being allowed by me as mirrors of my own (conscious) mind. In the hypothetical example that I've typed at the beginning, I would have found it very provoking if the "other" had insisted to stay!

What is sure is that I did it since I can remember. The self-talking routine is just a part of me, with the non-obvious advantage to always have an interlocuter worth of my attention.

The intrusion of voices that speak their own mind, different from both yourself and your mental image of somebody else, is another matter. If there is a mental issue behind this, I'd consider OCD: the inner voices look like an intrusive thought, creeping into your mind in spite of you, like it happens with obsessive thoughts. Alternatively, you may consider that at some thoughts existing at a preconsious level take a chance to surface in this way - which accounts for them being so different from what you'd have normally said.

The above are only guesses, of course.

Whatever, please go ahead with this discussion. All thirdy-and-three of us here enjoy it.

 

[Toad]

Lol Jordan...thats what I do to some extent...I dunno I just couldn't imagine that it wasn't a common thing cause it seems like I do it all the time, just am more aware of it at night. It's annoying at times though cause it's hard to fully concentrate on something when I'm talking to myself..shocking i know , and I can't always stop doing it...like when I was taking that calc test the other day :roll: Meh I dunno...maybe I just think to much

 

[Fredscars]

oh i talk to myselfs in my head loads. I know what you mean about not knowing if its normal or not, cios i cant imagine people not doing it - like you said.
I guess the voice in my brain is me..butat the same time its not. The worst is whe i talk to myself about something, then ill stop and realsie ive been (in my head) or out loud, talking to the voice about somehting, that i odnt know what it is. Like ill be going on about how bad "it" is and how i cant stand when people do it, then the voice will ramble about that, sometimes move onto other stuff which i understand. but then i stop, after like half an hour and im just like "wtf?"
i know i dont have schizophrenia but i get wierded outsometimes..i have abg ting about a guy in my wardrobe, whos going to stab me. Sometimes ill scream unitl my paretns come in and open my wardrobe to check it out. Then i have problmes in the house alone..or in the street or wahtever..everyones gholding knives or is going to kill me or whatever..but thats lessening slightly. i think thats more paranoia than anyhtnig

 

[PisceanWisdom]

I talked to myself ever since I can remember. I think it's just voicing thoughts. Saying my thoughts out loud helps me concentrate on them, since I can always remember what I said, but sometimes I can't remember what I just thought. I think talking to yourself is no different than thinking.

I agree that some writers do it, since I myself write stuff (or at least think about writing...). Also, sometimes this amuses me for hours (or minutes, but it seems like hours) because I can create entire stories that are exactly perfect in my mind. The border between this and schizophrenia, I think, is knowing the difference between reality and your thoughts. On a more philosophical note, isn't reality what we percieve it to be? What if schizophrenics are the only sane people out there?

 

[Toad]

lets see...
intimate relationships...hmm...none
people following what i say...eh...sometimes
don't care about their looks...lets see...the last time i combed my hair was...wow i have no idea...last time i shaved was hmmm bout a month ago i suppose


Bah...from now on I'm normal dammit cause I say whose normal and whose not

 

[JoeRandomUser]

I don't think you're crazy at all mate, at least I hope not (cos if you are, then I am too). I have an almost constant 'inner dialog' thing going on. It doesn't worry me too much, though, because like you said I can't imagine anyone NOT having it. I'm never without it; sometimes mine is sort of like a running commentary and I don't interact with it very much, and other times I talk back and 'discuss' stuff with it in my head. It's much more active when I'm not occupied (like just before I fall asleep), but I also hear it if I'm in the process of thinking a complex task through or something like that as well. Actually, I think it's just the way I think; I hear a voice when I'm processing my thoughts.

Sometimes I even practice talking to myself, hey. Seriously. It's benifical for me. I don't talk to people enough IMHO and sometimes I tend to stumble on my words when I do. I reckon it comes down to simply not having enough practice speaking out loud; just like anything else, it's a skill you've gotta use in order to maintain it. So if I'm by myself in the car or something where noone can hear me, I'll practice talking out loud just to get some speaking practice. Sounds dumb, I know, but it works. If I have to talk to someone else afterward it always feels easier... kind of like I've warmed up or something.

So there you have it. I hear voices in my head, carry on conversations with them, and talk out loud to myself when I'm alone...

Somehow, Toad, I wouldn't be too worried if I were you. If they're gonna commit either of us, then they'll be coming for me first. :lol:

 

[BrokenSmile]

is really cool to have a conversatin in my head with myself... everybody has ... and that happen when im alone for long time ... i'm my best friend... sometimes i have a conversation in my head like... what i want to say to a real person that i know, but i keep that conversation in my head coz that person wouldn't have the patience to lisening what i want to say or wouldn't understand me ...so if i have an "imaginary" conversation i which i'm free to expres myself how i want and that dosen't afect me and that person i feel better and all my bad thoughts passing away .......

 

[Faded]

... sometimes i have a conversation in my head like... what i want to say to a real person that i know, but i keep that conversation in my head coz that person wouldn't have the patience to lisening what i want to say or wouldn't understand me ...so if i have an "imaginary" conversation i which i'm free to expres myself how i want and that dosen't afect me and that person i feel better and all my bad thoughts passing away .......

Yeaaa, thats what i think i often do, either before going to sleep, or while being alone(during the day) . yea,, its Funny, when u say things that u;ll never say to someone .. OR when talkin abut things that can never happen.OR just creating your own world. .. Its a Good help, indeed!
I think its normal.

 

[crescent]

Hey, I got the same things too, glad somebody bring it, because I almost forgot I have this since it's like part of me already. It used to bother me when it comes during times when I have to study or listening to lecture, but luckily now I don't need to study anymore and my work requires more concentration and this kind of talking seldom come during work.