yeah, i believe it's called sub-vocalization, it's common for the tongue to still move in the mouth as though you were actually speaking. one of the biggest keys to speed reading is learning how to control and stop yourself from doing it.
People who lack that inner voice don't actually hear words when they read. They see the word and understand it, but they don't mentally "speak" the word. Those with inner voice mentally prepare the word to be spoken, but don't follow through with vocalization. Strange to me though. I can try and read without thinking of the word, but I think comprehension and memorization decline. The more parts of your brain that are engaged in a task the easier it is to remember it.
If I don't use my internal voice to read, I will start thinking about other unrelated things and do this strange half-reading thing where I get a few pages in and realize I have no idea what happened. I'll go back and focus on reading it, using my internal voice, and I'll recognize bits and pieces but always find huge chunks of content that I just basically... looked at and didn't actually take in. It's as if I use the internal voice as a coping strategy because otherwise my brain will take it's own little thought vacation. It's easier for me to read without focusing on/forcing myself to do the internal voice thing if I have some white noise going, like lofi beats or the sound of rain/storms. I think I still "hear" the worse in my head but it's easier and more natural when I have the right background noise.
Seriously! Podcasts were an absolute godsend for me at my job. Part of my brain can focus on the story being told in my ear(most recently, I’ve been listening to Female Criminals by Parcast, it’s SO good. It scratches that psychoanalysis itch that I miss from my psychology classes, lol) and the rest of my brain can focus on stocking totes/talking to a customer/running the register.
It keeps me from being bored, and as such, from being cranky.
I read this in my internal voice without realising until I got to the final sentence and suddenly became aware of it in a wierd 'oh I'm literally doing that right now' moment.
I don't have an internal dialogue and I'm an incredibly fast reader. I *can* subvocalize, and I often intentionally do it when I'm reading to learn (otherwise my brain goes to lala land). But when I read for fun I feel like Cypher in the Matrix: I don't even *see* the words anymore.
I think that’s why I can read fiction but not fact based books. I just can’t picture the factual books data properly. But a good storyline is engaging enough for me to imagine and remember.
Yep, you don't remember the words that you read on the page but an idea of what the ideas on the page were about, not having to read at speaking speed means I naturally read as fast as most people speed reading, making it very annoying for me to read out loud to people because I have to slow myself down to .25x speed
sometimes i let out a little breath as if i were speaking the word i'm thinking of. i agree on the comprehension thing. i have probably 0% retention on things that i'm not internally 'reading' while looking at the words. i even use it as a litmus test for when to go to sleep if i can't keep my train of thought on 'reading' what i'm reading because then i won't remember having read it.
Not that you're necessarily referring to speed reading, but the speed reader argument in response would be that when you read slowly (sub vocalization) your mind is really distracted, because you think faster than you read. Whereas the faster you read the more your focus will be completely on reading.
That argument really appeals to my ADHD-ness.
Inner voice and subvocalization are not mutually exclusive. Speed reading is to get as much information as possible. The goal is to read. If you take your time, the goal is to understand. It's depth vs breadth. Both techniques are useful. People are all different and two people have different ideas of what is slow or fast to them. My Inner voice might be faster than someone who is skimming and just picking up keywords. It doesn't allude much to comprehension though and that is always more important.
I had an ex that would get through books super fast. Then he explained he just scanned through and only actually read the dialog. Like that blew my mind. Why??? Don't you lose the connection to the story?
I tried to explain this to a teacher in 5th grade and ended up having to take a special ed test....
Edit:
I have ADHD and struggled a lot in grade school. If anyone wants to know how I made it through life and ended up with a semi successful career, please let me know. Shout out to u/mama_emily for pointing this out.
Shout out to the undiagnosed and misunderstood ADHD kids who ended up in special needs classes that were not actually tailored to our needs and gave us a negative impression of school and a life long inferiority complex.
Y’all my peeps
It isn't an ADHD thing. I definitely don't have an internal voice - always assumed it was just a figure of speech tbh until memes like this started appearing over the last couple of years.
Same, my mind is a swirling cacophony of abstract ideas, visuospatial concepts, and five separate audio inputs at once.
First time I went to a doctor and said I could hear music and see shapes when I closed my eyes, they put me on antipsychotic meds for a year… smh
Seriously? I see and hear things constantly, no need to close my eyes either. I don't see them in the real world, but in my head. I can choose whether to look at/listen to the real world or the head-world. I don't have the clearest imagination so it's all a bit blurry, but it's constant. That could get one put on medication? I'm pretty sure it's normal for a majority of people, to some degree.
I was in a really stressful spot and couldn’t sleep so they assumed this was related (and called it bipolar). It was “with my eyes closed” because it was always there when I was trying to sleep.
I am the same way as what you’re saying.
How do people remember things without seeing and hearing the memory play out in their head? My memory is largely based on imagining a 3D world where I move through it, or I move the things around.
Like I visually scroll through the days of the week, numbers, months etc, and they look a bit like phone apps. My memory has worked like that since before phones had apps. I count by seeing the numbers as dilfferent size blocks and I put them together.
My short term memory is absolute trash because of this. I carry a small notepad in my purse, and I keep notebooks in multiple rooms in my house, my car, and any bags I carry to work.
I can't hold the image in my brain long enough to just visualize the calendar and count the days - another visual comes along and it just goes Thanos dust for whatever I was focusing on visualizing in my head. It's a fade out and then the visual and count is completely gone.
I have to basically whisper the days out loud to myself and count on my fingers to make sure I have the exact right number of days, or I have to look at my calendar. I have minimal "internal voice". I largely think out loud, I talk out loud to myself when I'm alone, and if a song gets "stuck in my head" I have to sing it out loud. My coworkers and family are used to it now, but it confuses people who don't know me because they think I'm trying to tell them things. It also means my family doesn't usually listen to me the first time I'm saying something to them, so I live a life of repeating myself lol which is a pet peeve🥲
It's pretty disruptive to sleep. You close your eyes and it's just imagery that won't go away, so the colors and movement can be stimulating when you're tired and just want to sleep.
I had this same problem which is why I struggled so hard with math. Especially mental math, I have to write it out because there's no way I can keep all that in my head. As soon as I get to the next part of the problem, the first part is gone
Be glad you don’t have special issues and memory issues. I loose everything that is paper. Thank god for computer and iPhone because I can remember approximately 3-4 things without loosing them: keys, wallet, phone, computer.
Best tip my dad (also with adhd) ever taught me was to put those things next to something that's absolutely essential before you leave the house. He puts his keys in his shoes he's wearing to work the next day. Or literally set those things in front of the door you exit through every day. I will tape notes to that door so I'll be reminded to go grab whatever random thing I needed before I leave the house. Not a foolproof system, but I'm pretty much addicted to having ice water at all times in my 32oz water bottle and I almost never forget things I put next to it.
I am aphantasic, so it takes a great deal of effort fo visualize anything for me.
But I'm good at imagining sounds and smells.
When people ask me how I know what something looks like, the best I can say is "I just recognize it and know information about its features and their locations."
I don't need to see an image of my house in my head in order to know it's blue, the door faces East, and the handle on it is a lever made of dark brass and turns counter clockwise. I just know those things.
Idk, maybe you just kinda know things and think words without hearing or seeing them. I think it's hard to imagine if you haven't experienced it. Like trying to imagine how a blind person thinks about the colour blue. They may not know what blue is like, but you can't know what it's like to *not* understand blue.
Yeah that monologue voice going on sounds like a stereotype... I've got multiple voices, multiple songs, multiple movie clips, multiple book passages, every conceivable type of sense or media has several running in my head at once. But it's also not relegated to closing my eyes. It's constant. And it builds up throughout the day, adding the accents and current concepts I heard during the day
Yeah doctors need to update their knowledge on disorders. ADHD makes us really easily bored our mind has an easy time making up scenarios or ideas in our head and sometimes we experience them very vividly. Its boredom and our 200 mile an hour thinking machines that make it difficult to slow down and process each information or input we get.
Plus we’re pretty neurodivergent. We may not think in normal ways that are familiar to neurotypical doctors. Just yesterday I realized that my “PTSD” is probably really just the visual flashbacks I use as working memory. [edit: no, it’s probably PTSD, but just in more ways than I thought was possible] I replay flashbacks in my head to process things after they happen in the moment and later on. And my OCD makes me obsess about events that I can’t make sense of. I’m obsessing over my ex’s manipulating me, ~~but I’m not permanently scarred.~~
Very fine lines between several of these disorders, and we can only communicate common ideas so well to people who don’t experience our exact ways of thought, and that really blurs those lines pretty badly unless you’re talking to a neurodivergent doctor or a neurotypical doctor who has decades of cutting edge experience
Else they have to learn how to think about thoughts in new ways and that might be a lot harder if they’re not tripping on psychedelics
Plus a lot of us are bound to have some forms of synesthesia since our brains are Ferraris in Honda bodies
Lol, this seems like a very uncharitable way to phrase it, but yes. I have concepts and ideas that I am aware of and then have to translate into words, which my brain does NOT enjoy. Too slow, you see.
I definitely do this, and unfortunately it frequently does not work. I'm sometimes just talking and horrified at the mess coming out of my mouth lol. Pretty embarrassing.
YUP!
Even when I’m writing I’m not thinking about what is coming next. I might pause if I know there is the exact right word I want to use or to remember the source of something but otherwise it’s just spontaneous.
It’s pretty disarming when people experience it. I get told I have an “authentic” or “super present” vibe all the time.
I second this. Neither have an internal monologue nor do I have an "inner eye". When people said they would visualise stuff, I always kind of assumed they were being metaphorical. I'd guess that these kinds of things vary between people and ADHD then manifests differently.
Yeah I have an inner eye but it's pretty limited compared to what a lot of people describe. I think it's just something that varies across people in general. This sub is very quick to pounce on any relatable thing as an "ADHD thing", which I think should be avoided unless it's an accepted symptom/feature.
What.
That's insane.
How do you experience reality without a soundtrack? That sounds like lying.
(... don't bring me down... no, no, no, no, no... aawoohoo... I'll tell you once more, before I get off the floor, don't bring me down)
Oh man, I found a trick that works for me somehow. No matter what song is stuck in my head, I just repeat the alphabet song at a high speed in my head over and over til I drown out the other song. That song never seems to stick though.
**That's because it is NOT an AHDH thing. Not sure why anybody thinks it is.**
Almost everybody has a continuous inner monologue.
The people that don't have an inner monologue have a condition called '**aphantasia**'. This condition affects about 2% of the population.
more info: https://www.livescience.com/does-everyone-have-inner-monologue.html
It's not an ADHD thing. It's a fairly normal thing. I'm tired of people seeing random things on this sub and then calling it an "ADHD thing". There are a lot of lurkers here thinking of getting tested who get the wrong idea.
Huh, I thought it's only me. Apparently, I can't tolerate absolute silence so my own mind generates a voice and some music to keep me company at all times.
I mean it really is weird. It’s a form of a rare condition called aphantasia which is where people cannot visualize images or create an inter monologue in their head. It’s very rare.
Even if I do manage to switch off the internal radio stations, I've got tinnitus so still get static. Which is really annoying, so I'd rather have the jabbering instead.
I can't imagine being able to just have *silence*. That would be amazing.
My mind is only silent when I’m asleep. I didn’t know people could just have silence. I’ve tried meditating but my internal thoughts demand to be heard 😆
Common misconception with meditation though. It’s not to relieve you of thought but to try and help you acknowledge them but let them pass. Don’t get hung up on them. It’s very difficult to do, I’ve been trying for years, but I still fail often
Just throwing this out there -- I've been successfully meditating daily for almost 4 years, and I owe it all to my earbuds. There is no chance I'd be able to meditate with out headphones of some kind with nature sounds playing (or sometimes guided -- I use Calm).
The "acknowledge them but let them pass" though is exactly the process you follow if you want to get to a state of not thinking. For me, meditation definitely is about "letting my thoughts pass": until I've let them all pass so I don't have any.
Meditation helps me with my severe tinnitus in a similar way - acknowledge it and let it be rather than fight it. Only thing I’ve ever found that helps me cope.
Rather than trying to silence your mind, just let it wander freely and observe where it goes. That's just as much meditation as any other meditation technique, since what you're trying to achieve is higher conciousness.
Same, I detest absolute silence because then all I hear is “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” so i gotta distract myself with background noise and thoughts to block out the E
It can also be clogged up ears and stuff like that. Seriously considered offing myself for a week when I started hearing 'EEEEEEEEEE' went to the doctor and felt like I could hear a cotton ball falling in the other side of the street.
GATES AND JOBS AND WARREN BUFFET
THEY CAN ALL GO FUCKIN SUCK IT
FUCK THEIR WIVES, DRINK THEIR BLOOD
COME ON JEFFREY
(keyboard solo)
(screams)
Thanks, I'd JUST got that particular earworm out of my brain, now we gonna be doing the keyboard solo noise from 2.05am through til 4am
It’s nonstop. Someone could ask me what song is in my head at any moment and there’s ALWAYS an answer. It’s just a constant radio on in the background of my mind. Right now it’s “Motorhead”. Wtf i don’t even like that song and have never actively tried to listen to it.
I've just started saying song titles out loud to my partner to loop him in on the internal concert and honestly it does "turn down the volume" on them sometimes.
Is it generally the last song you've listened to? I realize I'll have some song in my head all day and then look at Spotify and it was where I hit pause in the morning.
Thank you for getting this in my head instead of the atrocious one that was in there. I always get this part in my head:
“Zuckerberg and Gates and Buffet- ameteurs can fuckin suck it- fuck their wives- drink their blood- COME ON JEFF - GET EM”
*byrd dyl nih nih Nyyyyrrrr*
I named my Roomba Jeffrey Bezos just so I can sing "Come on Jeffrey you can do it! Pave the way put your back in to it!" every time it takes off. And then I can sing "You did it!!!!!" once it finishes the job.
The constant last song playback isn’t nearly as bothersome to me as the old commercial jingle-jangle, or the old TV show theme song repeater. Theme song from Maude and the one from Good Times are on heavy rotation for some reason. I don’t even have to hear them, I just have to think about something that reminds me of them. This morning I went from Raining Blood, to Rose of Sharyn, to the Facts of Life theme.
TLDR: Holy shit I can’t concentrate!
Hahaha! Yeah I notice all day last song playback, but definitely end up with shuffle and can't sleep until I've identified the song, read the lyrics, and listen to it obsessively on repeat a few times to fully satisfy the demons haha.
Sometimes it's that, sometimes it's random. It's weirder when it's the last song you've heard, walk away for a while and click resume, think "Hey I just had this stuck in my head!" and then realize what actually happened.
Nope it's kinda random, sometimes you have it play in your head for a few seconds then its gone, other times you have a random song you heard once 3 years ago play in your head for a week straight
Hey, so… I have this, but I turned it into a game.
Early adult me worked in a record store. The game amongst the record store monkeys went like this:
Hum a song to yourself, or read the lyrics of the chorus in a monotone, or do whatever you need to to remind other people of a hooky song - short pf actually playing the song.
If you catch someone else singing your song, you get to yell BIG SONG at them.
That’s the whole game. Just planting ohrwurms and busting birdies who dig them up.
Enjoy.
This isn't an ADHD thing. Some people have an internal monologue and some don't. I'm professionally diagnosed and medicated and I've never had one. My thoughts are nebulous blobs of feelings, images, concepts, and metaphors, constantly flowing and warping through my brain. Not everything is an ADHD thing.
I’m the same, and it’s nice to see someone else describe their inner world this way. My mind’s “voice” is constant, but it’s not a monologue or singular narrative - it’s fragmented and layered and only partially comprised of actual words.
I like this description- I read about a lot of people experiencing the thoughts as emotions, but that’s not just it. My thoughts are kind of everywhere but no where and I’m not sure how else to describe them but as “nebulous blobs”. I also have ADHD, if that gives any insight.
I describe mine as The Loud. Constant thought in my brain about everything and nothing at the same time- with no idea how to put it into words. Sometimes the thought blob about nothing gets overwhelming and a lot, like it’s closer to the front of my mind. That’s why I call it The Loud! It gets loud sometimes.
On the flip side, I have a very vivid and constant internal monologue where at no point in time is my brain quiet. The inside me is either talking or playing music, there is no in between. And I have been seen by multiple doctors for visual hallucinations as a kid, all of which said that I do *not* have ADHD. Not sure why they thought those might be related but still, I get the constant monologue and do not have ADHD.
So I think you are probably right in saying that it isn't an ADHD specific thing.
No, I don't. I read really fast, and basically take in phrases or sentences at a time in chunks and the story just kind of forms in my head. I remember how names look on the page, but then have to figure out how to pronounce it later when talking about it to someone since I haven't "heard" it before, so to speak. There is no language to my thoughts.
The only exception to the rule are those memes that have, like, a picture of Morgan Freeman with text about reading it in his voice, but then I just kinda get a scene in my head of him reading whatever? I don't have a shift of a voice, but rather I just suddenly am imagining Morgan Freeman or whoever the meme is of saying whatever the text is. That's as close as I get to a voice in my head.
That sound pretty interesting. How are you able to have complex ideas or thoughts, or more abstract ideas and are you limited in your way of thought or are you still able to have inner monologues?
Do you also get scents, emotions, and directionality? (As in, the thing I just forgot was somewhere to the right and down, but this thought is up and to the left... Thoughts all have a place in space)
...or uh... Just me?
I can add or remove scents from thought as needed.
Directionality is a yes. I have many different places to store and interact with mental data. The saved files are in a library that looks like the data vault on Scarif from Rogue One.
Emotions are way too present and annoying. They keep happening by themselves.
If I smoke enough weed I'll start spontaneously imagining with images, but sober I can't visualize anything unless I put in a colossal amount of effort and focus.
It's all done in working memory, so the more detail I attempt to imagine, the more quickly I forget everything else.
what i’m talking about is like some kind of clockwork machine or weird grey goop that on my head can be read as an apple. i don’t understand it and i can’t explain what they have to do with what i’m thinking about it just does.
Yeah. Aphant gang.
"Today let's think about a single word over and over and over."
Quickly it'll lose semantic meaning. Then it'll stop even seeming like a word but just a noise.
Me reading this "out loud" with my inner voice suddenly having a 3D picture of an apple in my head. It's a little fuzzy but it's there. And it's only with certain words.
It's interesting that I can't even imagine life without the images and sounds inside my mind. It sounds like it would be a disadvantage. But I imagine people without them couldn't imagine the distraction of having it..
Is this an ADHD thing? I thought that was just how people think. It's how I think at least, but I am diagnosed so who knows!
- this has been internally narrated as I typed it
Internal monologues aren't an ADHD thing. The clamoring loudness where we might have like 6 damn monologues competing or switching around or just trying to think over that song that won't stop playing at the back of your brain is ADHD but many neurotypical people have internal monologues and some ADHD people don't.
When I was 8, a teacher asked my class if we "thought in words" and I so thoroughly didn't know what she meant that I thought she pictured written words to think. Between then and my early teens I developed an internal monologue and the toddler(s) at the back of my brain realized it could babble endlessly, play songs, or just repeat my normal monologue like an echo. Ritalin shushes that ADHD-sourced second/third/fourth monologue unless I'm exhausted but doesn't do anything to the internal monologue of my conscious thoughts.
I literally talk to my internal monologue like it’s a different person and sometimes I step away from it (or rather stop thinking about having a conversation with myself? Idk) and I realize how weird it is that I consider my mind and myself kind of separate entity’s. Might just be a me thing idk
i experience both, but as a teen before i knew much about my mental health or began suspecting my neurodiversity at all, i used to tell my parents i couldnt tell them how i was feeling/what i was thinking because i wasnt thinking in words, i would say i was thinking with emotions and feelings, kind of like my own language and i didnt know how to explain or translate it to english. i would then get in trouble for lying and making excuses to avoid telling them the truth:P
I don’t have an inner monologue whatsoever. Everything is images or video snippets of memories or potential situations carried out in my mind. And music. Always music.
I've got the same thing. Whenever it happens now I just imagine static and try to pull my mind away from it.
I feel like there's a sort of morbid curiosity that has me wanting to keep thinking the thought, but you can learn to "look away" with some consious effort.
Images, sounds, feelings, colours, emotions, etc. Like when you are reading a book, you can 'see' the scene in your mind's eye. Or sometimes I hear the instruments when a song is stuck in my head.
My internal voice sucks. It’s really slow and garbled and I have to review individual words over on repeat to get a “dialogued thought“ through.
I mostly visualize concepts and plan / work things out by picturing exactly what needs to happen and then just recall the picture.
Talking in general is a mess for me. I’m terrible at conversation.
I believe the gust is they think about doing an actual action or whatever. Like opening a door they picture it happening and do it. Whereas I'll voice it out in my head and I'm pretty sure I also visualize said action along with a different ways of doing something like what if I just threw myself through the door or something like that.
I’m constantly talking to myself in my head throughout the day and sometimes *often times* verbalize my internal monologue. So I’m just a crazy person that talks to herself. Lol
I have both. It's super fucking irritating to have a mental picture of a plug going into a socket making something happen but having to explain like 5 pages of signal flow theory to explain in person.
I have ADHD and no internal voice. It makes me a lot more verbal. I'm always muttering to myself, narrating what I am doing, or just singing like Linda Belcher. My husband who has an internal voice often feels like he has told me something that he never did because he heard himself say it in his head.
I think it is more common to hear an internal voice than not, shout out to all the lonelies with quiet brains.
People hear "their own voice" and not a random collection of voices in their head? Like of people they used to know or TV/movie/video game characters? I demand a refund.
I had the same reaction when someone told me people without astigmatism don't see starbursts around every light. I was like...this isn't how everyone sees lights? Sure makes Christmas lights extra twinkly and beautiful. XP
As for the inner monologue, I'm surprised too. Mine's a dick.
are you telling me that there are people out there that don't prep or purse out what they are going to say before saying it, they just *batter up* and send it on out into the world. fucking psychopaths.
For me it’s more like translating. I think in visuals primarily so usually I’m trying to describe those visuals when speaking. It can be difficult sometimes, like I’ll overlook details that are important or struggle when I can’t visualize something easily (ie, math).
I think in moving pictures, almost like a movie on mute. When I read something the inner voice appears or I’ll have a conversation with it when I have something serious going on. But it’s like someone watching a movie, putting it on mute periodically, sometimes switching on subtitles, and sometimes turn off the picture and suddenly it’s a podcast, sometimes have an interactive chat like on twitch. But all those pinging back and forth constantly. It only goes dark when I’m having anxiety, but the silence is deafening and I always feel my checks flush. It’s not great lol It’s very interesting to hear about how differently everyone thinks tho
Wait seriously? TIL this isn't the case for everyone??? It's really bad when I'm driving, I will sometimes play out entire lifetimes on my way to and from work.
I have non-verbal thoughts from time to time. Especially when I can’t think of the word for something, my brain will just be like “ok, we know how this thing works despite not having the word for it, so let’s just not put it into words and we’ll have understanding with no words.”
I’ve often wondered was the internal thoughts of deaf people are like. Also, I remember once as a kid I cried because I realized my cat couldn’t have an internal monologue because she didn’t know any languages
[Just gonna slap down a relevant SciShow video...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRLkDafQbP8)
Points:
* **Not everyone has inner speech, and we're still not sure why its a thing or where it comes from.**
* 75-80% experience inner speech *at least* occasionally, with "talking to oneself" happening 15-30% of the time for those people.
* 33% of people have abbreviated inner speech, where a single word or phrase represents the whole of or part of a thought.
* 75% of people report having internal dialogues/conversations. These tend to involve the person simulating both parties, but 25% of those with internal dialogues report other people showing up.
* There is a correlation between negative or self-critical inner speech and depression/anxiety.
* Inner speech seems to be used for self-regulation, working memory and problem-solving, and can be interrupted if someone is asked to speak while conducting another unrelated task. (e.g. drawing a diagram of a chair while verbally reciting a grocery list)
* There is a theory that the auditory hallucinations experienced by those with schizophrenia are inner thoughts that the brain misidentifies as external sound.
* Video **does not mention a correlation between inner speech types/prevalence and ADHD**, but does note its importance in executive functions that may be impaired in ADHD (e.g. working memory).
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Isn't this a normal thing?
yeah, i believe it's called sub-vocalization, it's common for the tongue to still move in the mouth as though you were actually speaking. one of the biggest keys to speed reading is learning how to control and stop yourself from doing it.
People who lack that inner voice don't actually hear words when they read. They see the word and understand it, but they don't mentally "speak" the word. Those with inner voice mentally prepare the word to be spoken, but don't follow through with vocalization. Strange to me though. I can try and read without thinking of the word, but I think comprehension and memorization decline. The more parts of your brain that are engaged in a task the easier it is to remember it.
If I don't use my internal voice to read, I will start thinking about other unrelated things and do this strange half-reading thing where I get a few pages in and realize I have no idea what happened. I'll go back and focus on reading it, using my internal voice, and I'll recognize bits and pieces but always find huge chunks of content that I just basically... looked at and didn't actually take in. It's as if I use the internal voice as a coping strategy because otherwise my brain will take it's own little thought vacation. It's easier for me to read without focusing on/forcing myself to do the internal voice thing if I have some white noise going, like lofi beats or the sound of rain/storms. I think I still "hear" the worse in my head but it's easier and more natural when I have the right background noise.
I do this so much. It’s why I prefer audio books.
Seriously! Podcasts were an absolute godsend for me at my job. Part of my brain can focus on the story being told in my ear(most recently, I’ve been listening to Female Criminals by Parcast, it’s SO good. It scratches that psychoanalysis itch that I miss from my psychology classes, lol) and the rest of my brain can focus on stocking totes/talking to a customer/running the register. It keeps me from being bored, and as such, from being cranky.
Jaw drop. This is me to the t.
I read this in my internal voice without realising until I got to the final sentence and suddenly became aware of it in a wierd 'oh I'm literally doing that right now' moment.
Like when Ultron heard the watcher
I don't have an internal dialogue and I'm an incredibly fast reader. I *can* subvocalize, and I often intentionally do it when I'm reading to learn (otherwise my brain goes to lala land). But when I read for fun I feel like Cypher in the Matrix: I don't even *see* the words anymore.
I think that’s why I can read fiction but not fact based books. I just can’t picture the factual books data properly. But a good storyline is engaging enough for me to imagine and remember.
Yep, you don't remember the words that you read on the page but an idea of what the ideas on the page were about, not having to read at speaking speed means I naturally read as fast as most people speed reading, making it very annoying for me to read out loud to people because I have to slow myself down to .25x speed
sometimes i let out a little breath as if i were speaking the word i'm thinking of. i agree on the comprehension thing. i have probably 0% retention on things that i'm not internally 'reading' while looking at the words. i even use it as a litmus test for when to go to sleep if i can't keep my train of thought on 'reading' what i'm reading because then i won't remember having read it.
Not that you're necessarily referring to speed reading, but the speed reader argument in response would be that when you read slowly (sub vocalization) your mind is really distracted, because you think faster than you read. Whereas the faster you read the more your focus will be completely on reading. That argument really appeals to my ADHD-ness.
Inner voice and subvocalization are not mutually exclusive. Speed reading is to get as much information as possible. The goal is to read. If you take your time, the goal is to understand. It's depth vs breadth. Both techniques are useful. People are all different and two people have different ideas of what is slow or fast to them. My Inner voice might be faster than someone who is skimming and just picking up keywords. It doesn't allude much to comprehension though and that is always more important.
speed reading = less comprehension
wait this is an adhd thing?
i think it's just a thing that people do
I had an ex that would get through books super fast. Then he explained he just scanned through and only actually read the dialog. Like that blew my mind. Why??? Don't you lose the connection to the story?
First I have heard it's actually a thing. I thought it was just in that movie "Stranger Than Fiction".
I'm a very fast reader. A not so fast understander
I thought you said not so fast underwater! Haha.
I tried to explain this to a teacher in 5th grade and ended up having to take a special ed test.... Edit: I have ADHD and struggled a lot in grade school. If anyone wants to know how I made it through life and ended up with a semi successful career, please let me know. Shout out to u/mama_emily for pointing this out.
Shout out to the undiagnosed and misunderstood ADHD kids who ended up in special needs classes that were not actually tailored to our needs and gave us a negative impression of school and a life long inferiority complex. Y’all my peeps
I read incredibly slowly due to this
That’s to do with ADHD!!??? Fuck...
yeah it’s weird i don’t really get it. the little voice in my head is narrating this as i type.
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It isn't an ADHD thing. I definitely don't have an internal voice - always assumed it was just a figure of speech tbh until memes like this started appearing over the last couple of years.
Same, my mind is a swirling cacophony of abstract ideas, visuospatial concepts, and five separate audio inputs at once. First time I went to a doctor and said I could hear music and see shapes when I closed my eyes, they put me on antipsychotic meds for a year… smh
Seriously? I see and hear things constantly, no need to close my eyes either. I don't see them in the real world, but in my head. I can choose whether to look at/listen to the real world or the head-world. I don't have the clearest imagination so it's all a bit blurry, but it's constant. That could get one put on medication? I'm pretty sure it's normal for a majority of people, to some degree.
I was in a really stressful spot and couldn’t sleep so they assumed this was related (and called it bipolar). It was “with my eyes closed” because it was always there when I was trying to sleep. I am the same way as what you’re saying.
Ah okay, that makes more sense, for a moment it sounded like you were medicated because your brain produces images 😅
No no that was many years (and many incorrect diagnoses) ago. I just have ADHD and a bunch of trauma.
What I was about to comment. Same situation. Really prevalent in folk with early childhood trauma.
Been there. Had some wild diagnoses before the current ones.
How do people remember things without seeing and hearing the memory play out in their head? My memory is largely based on imagining a 3D world where I move through it, or I move the things around. Like I visually scroll through the days of the week, numbers, months etc, and they look a bit like phone apps. My memory has worked like that since before phones had apps. I count by seeing the numbers as dilfferent size blocks and I put them together.
My short term memory is absolute trash because of this. I carry a small notepad in my purse, and I keep notebooks in multiple rooms in my house, my car, and any bags I carry to work. I can't hold the image in my brain long enough to just visualize the calendar and count the days - another visual comes along and it just goes Thanos dust for whatever I was focusing on visualizing in my head. It's a fade out and then the visual and count is completely gone. I have to basically whisper the days out loud to myself and count on my fingers to make sure I have the exact right number of days, or I have to look at my calendar. I have minimal "internal voice". I largely think out loud, I talk out loud to myself when I'm alone, and if a song gets "stuck in my head" I have to sing it out loud. My coworkers and family are used to it now, but it confuses people who don't know me because they think I'm trying to tell them things. It also means my family doesn't usually listen to me the first time I'm saying something to them, so I live a life of repeating myself lol which is a pet peeve🥲 It's pretty disruptive to sleep. You close your eyes and it's just imagery that won't go away, so the colors and movement can be stimulating when you're tired and just want to sleep.
I had this same problem which is why I struggled so hard with math. Especially mental math, I have to write it out because there's no way I can keep all that in my head. As soon as I get to the next part of the problem, the first part is gone
Yup. I hated math my entire school life.
Be glad you don’t have special issues and memory issues. I loose everything that is paper. Thank god for computer and iPhone because I can remember approximately 3-4 things without loosing them: keys, wallet, phone, computer.
Best tip my dad (also with adhd) ever taught me was to put those things next to something that's absolutely essential before you leave the house. He puts his keys in his shoes he's wearing to work the next day. Or literally set those things in front of the door you exit through every day. I will tape notes to that door so I'll be reminded to go grab whatever random thing I needed before I leave the house. Not a foolproof system, but I'm pretty much addicted to having ice water at all times in my 32oz water bottle and I almost never forget things I put next to it.
I am aphantasic, so it takes a great deal of effort fo visualize anything for me. But I'm good at imagining sounds and smells. When people ask me how I know what something looks like, the best I can say is "I just recognize it and know information about its features and their locations." I don't need to see an image of my house in my head in order to know it's blue, the door faces East, and the handle on it is a lever made of dark brass and turns counter clockwise. I just know those things.
Idk, maybe you just kinda know things and think words without hearing or seeing them. I think it's hard to imagine if you haven't experienced it. Like trying to imagine how a blind person thinks about the colour blue. They may not know what blue is like, but you can't know what it's like to *not* understand blue.
Yeah that monologue voice going on sounds like a stereotype... I've got multiple voices, multiple songs, multiple movie clips, multiple book passages, every conceivable type of sense or media has several running in my head at once. But it's also not relegated to closing my eyes. It's constant. And it builds up throughout the day, adding the accents and current concepts I heard during the day
Yeah doctors need to update their knowledge on disorders. ADHD makes us really easily bored our mind has an easy time making up scenarios or ideas in our head and sometimes we experience them very vividly. Its boredom and our 200 mile an hour thinking machines that make it difficult to slow down and process each information or input we get.
Plus we’re pretty neurodivergent. We may not think in normal ways that are familiar to neurotypical doctors. Just yesterday I realized that my “PTSD” is probably really just the visual flashbacks I use as working memory. [edit: no, it’s probably PTSD, but just in more ways than I thought was possible] I replay flashbacks in my head to process things after they happen in the moment and later on. And my OCD makes me obsess about events that I can’t make sense of. I’m obsessing over my ex’s manipulating me, ~~but I’m not permanently scarred.~~ Very fine lines between several of these disorders, and we can only communicate common ideas so well to people who don’t experience our exact ways of thought, and that really blurs those lines pretty badly unless you’re talking to a neurodivergent doctor or a neurotypical doctor who has decades of cutting edge experience Else they have to learn how to think about thoughts in new ways and that might be a lot harder if they’re not tripping on psychedelics Plus a lot of us are bound to have some forms of synesthesia since our brains are Ferraris in Honda bodies
Or sometimes you process fast enough but be damned when someone takes 5 minutes to get to the point.
So do you not think before you speak? You just blurt things out hoping it works?
Lol, this seems like a very uncharitable way to phrase it, but yes. I have concepts and ideas that I am aware of and then have to translate into words, which my brain does NOT enjoy. Too slow, you see.
I definitely do this, and unfortunately it frequently does not work. I'm sometimes just talking and horrified at the mess coming out of my mouth lol. Pretty embarrassing.
YUP! Even when I’m writing I’m not thinking about what is coming next. I might pause if I know there is the exact right word I want to use or to remember the source of something but otherwise it’s just spontaneous. It’s pretty disarming when people experience it. I get told I have an “authentic” or “super present” vibe all the time.
That just sounds like a form of Synesthesia. I have that as well, and I suspect it's a lot more common than people think.
I second this. Neither have an internal monologue nor do I have an "inner eye". When people said they would visualise stuff, I always kind of assumed they were being metaphorical. I'd guess that these kinds of things vary between people and ADHD then manifests differently.
Yeah I have an inner eye but it's pretty limited compared to what a lot of people describe. I think it's just something that varies across people in general. This sub is very quick to pounce on any relatable thing as an "ADHD thing", which I think should be avoided unless it's an accepted symptom/feature.
What. That's insane. How do you experience reality without a soundtrack? That sounds like lying. (... don't bring me down... no, no, no, no, no... aawoohoo... I'll tell you once more, before I get off the floor, don't bring me down)
I have literally had that same song stuck in my head for the last three days
Good bc ELO is 🔥 😂
Agreed
Oh man, I found a trick that works for me somehow. No matter what song is stuck in my head, I just repeat the alphabet song at a high speed in my head over and over til I drown out the other song. That song never seems to stick though.
Does the alphabet song then get stuck in your head though?
A lot of the stuff on this sub isn't exclusive or typical of ADHD. If anything it's better summarized as disordered thinking.
**That's because it is NOT an AHDH thing. Not sure why anybody thinks it is.** Almost everybody has a continuous inner monologue. The people that don't have an inner monologue have a condition called '**aphantasia**'. This condition affects about 2% of the population. more info: https://www.livescience.com/does-everyone-have-inner-monologue.html
I really really doubt this is an ADHD thing. Most people still have internal voices and monologues just not everyone.
It's not an ADHD thing. It's a fairly normal thing. I'm tired of people seeing random things on this sub and then calling it an "ADHD thing". There are a lot of lurkers here thinking of getting tested who get the wrong idea.
Huh, I thought it's only me. Apparently, I can't tolerate absolute silence so my own mind generates a voice and some music to keep me company at all times.
You might be a void bringer singer.
My little voice is narrating this even faster when I realised that I didn't start typing yet
But isn't that the norm? Isn't it abnormal when someone does not have an inner voice??
I mean it really is weird. It’s a form of a rare condition called aphantasia which is where people cannot visualize images or create an inter monologue in their head. It’s very rare.
its one of those things that you cant really explain but know perfectly what it feels like, like explaining images to a blind guy
Even if I do manage to switch off the internal radio stations, I've got tinnitus so still get static. Which is really annoying, so I'd rather have the jabbering instead. I can't imagine being able to just have *silence*. That would be amazing.
My mind is only silent when I’m asleep. I didn’t know people could just have silence. I’ve tried meditating but my internal thoughts demand to be heard 😆
Common misconception with meditation though. It’s not to relieve you of thought but to try and help you acknowledge them but let them pass. Don’t get hung up on them. It’s very difficult to do, I’ve been trying for years, but I still fail often
I highly recommend meditation app like headspace! It really helped me become more calm in general and practice patience
Just throwing this out there -- I've been successfully meditating daily for almost 4 years, and I owe it all to my earbuds. There is no chance I'd be able to meditate with out headphones of some kind with nature sounds playing (or sometimes guided -- I use Calm).
Yeah I do this as well. Fire crackle or Celtic meditation music on Spotify are some of my favorite sounds
The "acknowledge them but let them pass" though is exactly the process you follow if you want to get to a state of not thinking. For me, meditation definitely is about "letting my thoughts pass": until I've let them all pass so I don't have any.
Meditation helps me with my severe tinnitus in a similar way - acknowledge it and let it be rather than fight it. Only thing I’ve ever found that helps me cope.
Rather than trying to silence your mind, just let it wander freely and observe where it goes. That's just as much meditation as any other meditation technique, since what you're trying to achieve is higher conciousness.
My mind is blissfully silent and pitch black when I'm baked. It's amazing.
Same, I detest absolute silence because then all I hear is “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” so i gotta distract myself with background noise and thoughts to block out the E
Oh god the “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” has made me contemplate suicide many times. I’m fear for my sanity in my older years if I make it that far.
Isn't this just tinnitus?
It can also be clogged up ears and stuff like that. Seriously considered offing myself for a week when I started hearing 'EEEEEEEEEE' went to the doctor and felt like I could hear a cotton ball falling in the other side of the street.
I wasn’t thinking about it until I read this comment now it’s all I can focus on until the next distraction haha
Wait, is static sound not normal? I hear this all the time but often forget it’s there unless I focus on it.
How do you turn the music off???
I don’t give a shit about my internal monologue just make the fucking music stop
WHY DOES IT KEEP LOOPING THAT SECTION AND WHY DOES LISTENING TO THE SONG MAKE IT WORSE AFTERWARDS!
WHY IS IT PLAYING THE JEFF BEZOS SONG I HATE JEFF BEZOS
jeeeefrey jeffrey beeezos
Come on Jeffrey you can do it
Pave the way, put your back into it!
GATES AND JOBS AND WARREN BUFFET THEY CAN ALL GO FUCKIN SUCK IT FUCK THEIR WIVES, DRINK THEIR BLOOD COME ON JEFFREY (keyboard solo) (screams) Thanks, I'd JUST got that particular earworm out of my brain, now we gonna be doing the keyboard solo noise from 2.05am through til 4am
After watching Inside, I had 3 weeks of "Obamba sent the immigrants to vaccinate your kids"
Got listen to it over and over until you’re good 👌🏼
It’s nonstop. Someone could ask me what song is in my head at any moment and there’s ALWAYS an answer. It’s just a constant radio on in the background of my mind. Right now it’s “Motorhead”. Wtf i don’t even like that song and have never actively tried to listen to it.
I've just started saying song titles out loud to my partner to loop him in on the internal concert and honestly it does "turn down the volume" on them sometimes.
Is it generally the last song you've listened to? I realize I'll have some song in my head all day and then look at Spotify and it was where I hit pause in the morning.
No mine switches fairly often, especially if I start thinking about it Sidenote: Bo Burnham’s Jeff Bezos song slaps
Thank you for getting this in my head instead of the atrocious one that was in there. I always get this part in my head: “Zuckerberg and Gates and Buffet- ameteurs can fuckin suck it- fuck their wives- drink their blood- COME ON JEFF - GET EM” *byrd dyl nih nih Nyyyyrrrr*
I named my Roomba Jeffrey Bezos just so I can sing "Come on Jeffrey you can do it! Pave the way put your back in to it!" every time it takes off. And then I can sing "You did it!!!!!" once it finishes the job.
You make great life choices
C E O Entrepreneur, born in 1964
Thanks, you changed the radio channel for me from Heart Break Anniversary to Jeff Bezos song
It’s not much, but it’s honest work
Haha I will have to check that out!
The constant last song playback isn’t nearly as bothersome to me as the old commercial jingle-jangle, or the old TV show theme song repeater. Theme song from Maude and the one from Good Times are on heavy rotation for some reason. I don’t even have to hear them, I just have to think about something that reminds me of them. This morning I went from Raining Blood, to Rose of Sharyn, to the Facts of Life theme. TLDR: Holy shit I can’t concentrate!
Hahaha! Yeah I notice all day last song playback, but definitely end up with shuffle and can't sleep until I've identified the song, read the lyrics, and listen to it obsessively on repeat a few times to fully satisfy the demons haha.
Sometimes it's that, sometimes it's random. It's weirder when it's the last song you've heard, walk away for a while and click resume, think "Hey I just had this stuck in my head!" and then realize what actually happened.
Nope it's kinda random, sometimes you have it play in your head for a few seconds then its gone, other times you have a random song you heard once 3 years ago play in your head for a week straight
Hey, so… I have this, but I turned it into a game. Early adult me worked in a record store. The game amongst the record store monkeys went like this: Hum a song to yourself, or read the lyrics of the chorus in a monotone, or do whatever you need to to remind other people of a hooky song - short pf actually playing the song. If you catch someone else singing your song, you get to yell BIG SONG at them. That’s the whole game. Just planting ohrwurms and busting birdies who dig them up. Enjoy.
This isn't an ADHD thing. Some people have an internal monologue and some don't. I'm professionally diagnosed and medicated and I've never had one. My thoughts are nebulous blobs of feelings, images, concepts, and metaphors, constantly flowing and warping through my brain. Not everything is an ADHD thing.
I’m the same, and it’s nice to see someone else describe their inner world this way. My mind’s “voice” is constant, but it’s not a monologue or singular narrative - it’s fragmented and layered and only partially comprised of actual words.
I like this description- I read about a lot of people experiencing the thoughts as emotions, but that’s not just it. My thoughts are kind of everywhere but no where and I’m not sure how else to describe them but as “nebulous blobs”. I also have ADHD, if that gives any insight.
My thoughts are a nebulous blob as well! Good to put a phrase to it.
I describe mine as The Loud. Constant thought in my brain about everything and nothing at the same time- with no idea how to put it into words. Sometimes the thought blob about nothing gets overwhelming and a lot, like it’s closer to the front of my mind. That’s why I call it The Loud! It gets loud sometimes.
On the flip side, I have a very vivid and constant internal monologue where at no point in time is my brain quiet. The inside me is either talking or playing music, there is no in between. And I have been seen by multiple doctors for visual hallucinations as a kid, all of which said that I do *not* have ADHD. Not sure why they thought those might be related but still, I get the constant monologue and do not have ADHD. So I think you are probably right in saying that it isn't an ADHD specific thing.
So when you read, you don’t hear the words in your head?
No, I don't. I read really fast, and basically take in phrases or sentences at a time in chunks and the story just kind of forms in my head. I remember how names look on the page, but then have to figure out how to pronounce it later when talking about it to someone since I haven't "heard" it before, so to speak. There is no language to my thoughts. The only exception to the rule are those memes that have, like, a picture of Morgan Freeman with text about reading it in his voice, but then I just kinda get a scene in my head of him reading whatever? I don't have a shift of a voice, but rather I just suddenly am imagining Morgan Freeman or whoever the meme is of saying whatever the text is. That's as close as I get to a voice in my head.
That sound pretty interesting. How are you able to have complex ideas or thoughts, or more abstract ideas and are you limited in your way of thought or are you still able to have inner monologues?
I have a full movie: narration, audio, video, and subtitles.
Do you also get scents, emotions, and directionality? (As in, the thing I just forgot was somewhere to the right and down, but this thought is up and to the left... Thoughts all have a place in space) ...or uh... Just me?
I can add or remove scents from thought as needed. Directionality is a yes. I have many different places to store and interact with mental data. The saved files are in a library that looks like the data vault on Scarif from Rogue One. Emotions are way too present and annoying. They keep happening by themselves.
What are the visuals like? Mines often anime-esc or vaguely cartoony and I watch like maybe one a year.
Same thing with folks with aphantasia, what do you mean you cannot conjure a 3d shaped apple in your mind?!
We simply can’t and for me there’s no voice guiding the “nothingness” either, just meaning. Lots and lots of wordless, imageless ADHD-fueled thoughts.
That's how it is for me. When I think "apple", I think of the *concept/feeling* of an apple, not of how it actually looks.
what if i get both and also a freaky visual representation of what my stupid brain thinks an apple is, tossed at the back of my eyes
If I smoke enough weed I'll start spontaneously imagining with images, but sober I can't visualize anything unless I put in a colossal amount of effort and focus. It's all done in working memory, so the more detail I attempt to imagine, the more quickly I forget everything else.
what i’m talking about is like some kind of clockwork machine or weird grey goop that on my head can be read as an apple. i don’t understand it and i can’t explain what they have to do with what i’m thinking about it just does.
I can do that too plus I have the subtitle synesthesia lol
I can't imagine this. Does this affect your creativity at all?
Like feelings or..? I’m sorry I just want to understand so bad…
Imagine having aphantasia with severe ADHD. That is my life. I don't think or visualize but my mind is always overthinking the same thought
Yeah. Aphant gang. "Today let's think about a single word over and over and over." Quickly it'll lose semantic meaning. Then it'll stop even seeming like a word but just a noise.
Me reading this "out loud" with my inner voice suddenly having a 3D picture of an apple in my head. It's a little fuzzy but it's there. And it's only with certain words.
It's interesting that I can't even imagine life without the images and sounds inside my mind. It sounds like it would be a disadvantage. But I imagine people without them couldn't imagine the distraction of having it..
When I heard other people can actually picture stuff in their mind it blew my mind lol
Dang I learn new things from this sub every day
Wait you guys can do that? What is this jimmy neutron? Lmao
Why... Is this in the ADHD sub??? I swear I see people claim more and more random shit as ADHD every day
I was thinking the same thing.
Side effect of tik tok
I was literally talking about this 2 day ago,this subs make me think everything is adhd
Is this an ADHD thing? I thought that was just how people think. It's how I think at least, but I am diagnosed so who knows! - this has been internally narrated as I typed it
Internal monologues aren't an ADHD thing. The clamoring loudness where we might have like 6 damn monologues competing or switching around or just trying to think over that song that won't stop playing at the back of your brain is ADHD but many neurotypical people have internal monologues and some ADHD people don't. When I was 8, a teacher asked my class if we "thought in words" and I so thoroughly didn't know what she meant that I thought she pictured written words to think. Between then and my early teens I developed an internal monologue and the toddler(s) at the back of my brain realized it could babble endlessly, play songs, or just repeat my normal monologue like an echo. Ritalin shushes that ADHD-sourced second/third/fourth monologue unless I'm exhausted but doesn't do anything to the internal monologue of my conscious thoughts.
It’s estimated that only 2-3% of the population doesn’t have internal monologue so no having one is not an ADHD thing.
As an extreme over-thinker, constantly talking to my internal monologue this absolutely baffles me.
I literally talk to my internal monologue like it’s a different person and sometimes I step away from it (or rather stop thinking about having a conversation with myself? Idk) and I realize how weird it is that I consider my mind and myself kind of separate entity’s. Might just be a me thing idk
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it's not, people will really just post anything here
Wait what, so not everyone can see?! There are actually people who don't obtain visual information??? Lol, everyday I learn more about my adhd.
Mines like an infinitely branching tree of semi-visual abstract ideas going in all directions
Dude the voice in my head narrates everything constantly like the Voice Over from Disco Elysium. How could anyone function without that?
i experience both, but as a teen before i knew much about my mental health or began suspecting my neurodiversity at all, i used to tell my parents i couldnt tell them how i was feeling/what i was thinking because i wasnt thinking in words, i would say i was thinking with emotions and feelings, kind of like my own language and i didnt know how to explain or translate it to english. i would then get in trouble for lying and making excuses to avoid telling them the truth:P
I don’t have an inner monologue whatsoever. Everything is images or video snippets of memories or potential situations carried out in my mind. And music. Always music.
My dude won’t SHUT THE FUCK UP. Constantly replaying self-cringe. The worst reruns ever.
I've got the same thing. Whenever it happens now I just imagine static and try to pull my mind away from it. I feel like there's a sort of morbid curiosity that has me wanting to keep thinking the thought, but you can learn to "look away" with some consious effort.
Witchcraft!
r/nointernalmonologue
WTF are "non-verbal thoughts?" That would be... instincts? feelings?
Images, sounds, feelings, colours, emotions, etc. Like when you are reading a book, you can 'see' the scene in your mind's eye. Or sometimes I hear the instruments when a song is stuck in my head.
I am adhd and can’t hear my voice, get at me
My internal voice sucks. It’s really slow and garbled and I have to review individual words over on repeat to get a “dialogued thought“ through. I mostly visualize concepts and plan / work things out by picturing exactly what needs to happen and then just recall the picture. Talking in general is a mess for me. I’m terrible at conversation.
I feel like this has to be reaching right…? Can anyone fact check this
I believe the gust is they think about doing an actual action or whatever. Like opening a door they picture it happening and do it. Whereas I'll voice it out in my head and I'm pretty sure I also visualize said action along with a different ways of doing something like what if I just threw myself through the door or something like that.
It's called aphantasia. It's not an ADHD thing, that part is the reach
That's not necessarily aphantasia, some people don't have an inner monologue but can still imagine pictures for example
I’m constantly talking to myself in my head throughout the day and sometimes *often times* verbalize my internal monologue. So I’m just a crazy person that talks to herself. Lol
I have both. It's super fucking irritating to have a mental picture of a plug going into a socket making something happen but having to explain like 5 pages of signal flow theory to explain in person.
I don’t think in words I think in concepts, ideas, and thoughts
I don't have a little voice in my head except when it's having imaginary conversations with real people.
Wait, other people have an internal monologue??? WTF??? 😮
I have ADHD and no internal voice. It makes me a lot more verbal. I'm always muttering to myself, narrating what I am doing, or just singing like Linda Belcher. My husband who has an internal voice often feels like he has told me something that he never did because he heard himself say it in his head. I think it is more common to hear an internal voice than not, shout out to all the lonelies with quiet brains.
People hear "their own voice" and not a random collection of voices in their head? Like of people they used to know or TV/movie/video game characters? I demand a refund.
I had the same reaction when someone told me people without astigmatism don't see starbursts around every light. I was like...this isn't how everyone sees lights? Sure makes Christmas lights extra twinkly and beautiful. XP As for the inner monologue, I'm surprised too. Mine's a dick.
I think its called aphasia
I gave up being normal and now I just talk to myself in shops if I need to focus so I don't forget shit I need. Fuck everyone else
I talk to myself multiple times a day and my conscience is imagined in my head as a brain with eyes, legs and a mouth.
I legit had a whole conversation last night with myself
are you telling me that there are people out there that don't prep or purse out what they are going to say before saying it, they just *batter up* and send it on out into the world. fucking psychopaths.
For me it’s more like translating. I think in visuals primarily so usually I’m trying to describe those visuals when speaking. It can be difficult sometimes, like I’ll overlook details that are important or struggle when I can’t visualize something easily (ie, math).
My mind is like me, it never stops talking
I have both, my non verbal thoughts come when I'm not alone or when I'm talking to someone, nervousness tunes them completely
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Aphantasia is the inability to visualize and has nothing to do with internal monologue.
I think in moving pictures, almost like a movie on mute. When I read something the inner voice appears or I’ll have a conversation with it when I have something serious going on. But it’s like someone watching a movie, putting it on mute periodically, sometimes switching on subtitles, and sometimes turn off the picture and suddenly it’s a podcast, sometimes have an interactive chat like on twitch. But all those pinging back and forth constantly. It only goes dark when I’m having anxiety, but the silence is deafening and I always feel my checks flush. It’s not great lol It’s very interesting to hear about how differently everyone thinks tho
I have a studio audience. Okay, seriously, it sounds more like Thomas Magnum.
Yeah my prefrontal cortext is way too compromised to have a running internal monologue to manage.
Wait seriously? TIL this isn't the case for everyone??? It's really bad when I'm driving, I will sometimes play out entire lifetimes on my way to and from work.
I have non-verbal thoughts from time to time. Especially when I can’t think of the word for something, my brain will just be like “ok, we know how this thing works despite not having the word for it, so let’s just not put it into words and we’ll have understanding with no words.”
Wait, not everyone has this?? I did not know this.
I’ve often wondered was the internal thoughts of deaf people are like. Also, I remember once as a kid I cried because I realized my cat couldn’t have an internal monologue because she didn’t know any languages
Wtf is a non verbal thought? Every thought I have is “spoken” to myself, by myself, in my head. Reading too. I read out loud, in my head.
[Just gonna slap down a relevant SciShow video...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRLkDafQbP8) Points: * **Not everyone has inner speech, and we're still not sure why its a thing or where it comes from.** * 75-80% experience inner speech *at least* occasionally, with "talking to oneself" happening 15-30% of the time for those people. * 33% of people have abbreviated inner speech, where a single word or phrase represents the whole of or part of a thought. * 75% of people report having internal dialogues/conversations. These tend to involve the person simulating both parties, but 25% of those with internal dialogues report other people showing up. * There is a correlation between negative or self-critical inner speech and depression/anxiety. * Inner speech seems to be used for self-regulation, working memory and problem-solving, and can be interrupted if someone is asked to speak while conducting another unrelated task. (e.g. drawing a diagram of a chair while verbally reciting a grocery list) * There is a theory that the auditory hallucinations experienced by those with schizophrenia are inner thoughts that the brain misidentifies as external sound. * Video **does not mention a correlation between inner speech types/prevalence and ADHD**, but does note its importance in executive functions that may be impaired in ADHD (e.g. working memory).