Do you have an inner voice

hox

There was a recent article in The Guardian newspaper about people having an inner voice, quite literally a voice that speaks to them in words and sentences. The suggestion was that this is quite normal.

I have no such voice in my head, and I would be frightened to death if I started hearing voices that aren’t really there. Is this really going on? Do I have to worry that people I meet are having a conversation in their head with a phantom entity?

I.Raptus

'Turn around', 'over here', 'anytime' .....

Kongzilla

To have an inner voice, you must have an inner jaw. xDDD

NCC 1701

I take it , you're not married 

dk

I saw a similar article from the Guardian. I took it as hearing a certain voice for things like self talk "you can do it" for example. It was referred to something an individual  controls. It was different than unexpected or unwanted voices telling one what to do.

BigDave

I think its Common that we have a Inner Voice that talks to us, as far as our Sub-conscious talking to us... its Part of our Thinking Process...

There is NO-HARM in that unless the Voice we hear and talk to is something that we DONT realize is our-self lol

hox

This is what I've read. It's apparently common to have a voice that talks to you. I presume you hear such words in your head, BigDave? As, I presume, do many others.

As for myself, if I started hearing myself talking to me, I'd go into a blind panic! What other personalities could be lurking in there waiting to speak?

Sure, I reflect on matters and think about what I should be doing. But I don't have a short-circuit in my brain where thoughts get turned into words that only I can hear.

I can imagine in my mind's eye things I've seen (or never seen), and I can trot through every single note of long pieces of music in my mind. But I don't really see or hear them.

BigDave

I think it comes down to a Sub-Conscious thinking to yourself that you are in Control of, compared to a Inner Voice that seems Totally Independent i think we are all Different and so we may have Different Levels of what we could call Interaction with a Inner Voice.

So it would NOT really mean we have to be Concerned about some Mental Illness or the Potential of ;)

I think for some of us then we have moments where we THINK about a Situation and we kind of have that Inner Voice that would be saying... thats a BAD IDEA and another that then goes like GO FOR IT lol

But we should ONLY be Concerned if such Voices seem to have Independent Thought or if you dont realize its your Sub-Conscious and you think its someone ELSE ;)

I.Raptus

I agree BigDave. If the inner voice is words you are thinking, words you are in control of its just normal internal thinking and coping mechanisms. The minds way of processing stimuli.

I imagine those without that inner voice would operate more on an instinctive level rather than via cognitive processing?

Quicker and more efficient certainly  

Svanya

Yes, I have one. It's always been there, it helps me think.

hox

I'm getting worried now! It seems like there are more strange people in the world than I thought ;-)

Words are a way of putting thoughts into a particular sequence. Like ticker tape coming out of a computer. They are useful in communicating an idea from one person to another (just like I'm doing now). You are deserialising my words (to use computing terminology) to infer my thoughts from those words.

I don't need that kind of serialisation in order to process stimuli. When I hear a piece of music I don't put it into word, and no words speak to me of that. When I think about how I'm going to solve a jigsaw or Sudoku puzzle, I don't need words for that. If I plan a game of chess, it's a matter of running though the multitude of possibilities, not listening to another person inside my head barking instructions as to which piece to move where!

What happens when someone speaks to you? In your mind, is there another "you" who you're having a conversation with, a third party hiding in the shadows?

I'd be scared to death if that happened to me.

Kongzilla

If the inner voice means an internal dialogue or a monologue with oneself. Then there is nothing wrong with that. As long as you take these words for your own, albeit in different roles. 

But if you think that some foreign, strange person is talking to you in your head, and you do not consider it as part of your personality, then it is better to make an appointment with the doctor early in the morning.

Svanya

@hox; It's not like there is another person talking to me, it's just me, my inner voice. 

hox

This is all very interesting. Thank you all very much!

I now realise this phenomenon is really very common, and different people think in quite different ways. My wife has a voice in her head, too. Who knows, perhaps I am the only person in the world who is free of talking going on in his head.

Tourette's sufferers have an inner voice, too. And it comes from their personality - the me that's inside me, as it were. Except they have a problem where the brain connects that voice directly to their mouth.

From my perspective, having an inner voice that doesn't move the lips would be one short step away from having Tourette's.

Just imagine if almost everyone in he world had Tourette's. Would you say there's nothing wrong with that just because it was common? From my perspective with no inner voice, I would consider it very wrong indeed if I suddenly started hearing what I was thinking (in words). I'd put it down to a fault in the wiring of my brain.

SuperAlien

Maybe that's supposed to be the conscience. Some people hear it more often and louder, other shut it up for good.

If you hear a voice trying to stop you from doing something bad, that should be ok. 

Just try to do something bad and listen carefully if you hear something from within :)

dk

hox

Maybe this schematic could help?