Talking to yourself

[makhan]

Do you talk to yourself? I find myself doing it more and more often as I get older... and sometimes even do it out loud with other people around :S. To think about it, I look forward to these more than I do to conversations with others lol

 

[Dormouse]

Talking to yourself is a sign of good mental health. I refuse to consider any other theories.

 

[Ashenstar]

*wonders how much she should admit to being crazy to the new person*

 

[ifelloverboard]

I catch myself doing it. It's not complete dialogue like a couple hours ago I was walking up the stairs and remember saying out loud "she didn't even know what disposition meant" as I was recalling this story from Friday night.

 

[Ombat]

I spend an unusual amount of time completely alone, and I think it messes with my head because I pretend I'm having conversations with other people, out loud. It's just because I'm bored though. I don't talk to myself in public or when there's anyone else around.

My step-dad, on the other hand (who is an INTP) talks to himself constantly in a whispered/muttered voice as he walks around the house. It's very weird.

 

[Dark_Amphibian]

Yeah. All the time. If necessary, carrying both sides of an issue. Or just reminding myself of something. Best though, is diagramming things out on a whiteboard (there are 3 in the house) WHILE talking it through.

What...doesn't everyone?
:smiley_emoticons_mr

 

[Cavallier]

All the time. I've had to tell people before that if I were talking to them I'd have called them over or used their name. Otherwise, if I'm talking, I'm talking to myself. *sigh* I get tired of people asking me, "what?" all the time and my having to respond, "nothing, I'm just talking to myself".

If I wanted your attention I'd have called you over! Gah.

I caught a co-worker telling a newbie, "Oh and she talks to herself ALL THE TIME but don't mind her. She's not crazy or anything".

 

[grEEEn]

I don't talk to myself alone, but I can carry on entire conversations in my head. It's how I think, make decisions, and sometimes entertain myself. That would lead to the random laughing out loud.

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

Talking to yourself is a sign of good mental health. I refuse to consider any other theories.

You should discuss the possibilities with yourself some more.

I'm scared to verbally talk to myself, because of the "appearing-crazy" factor. I have a constant inner dialogue, though. (Sometimes I think that certain Js don't have a constant inner dialogue...)

 

[Xel]

I think there was another thread on this. I still maintain that talking to yourself is perfectly sane and fine. I do it all the time (when others are not there)

 

[Dormouse]

You should discuss the possibilities with yourself some more.

Oh, I have, this is one of the few issues we , er , I , agree on.

And while I don't actually speak out loud, I've been caught in public mouthing the words.

 

[Tunesimah]

I think this is my natural mode, and society has driven it out of me.

When I'm solving a problem, I'll get all animated and talk to my self. It's a way of bouncing ideas off my self. When working through ideas I need scratch paper... talking to myself is a form of verbal scratch paper.

When I'm completely by myself in a place, or extremely comfortable with the company, I'll babble and talk to myself... sometimes make up melodies or rhythm phrases. It's extremely liberating...

Sometimes I come find myself sputtering a few random words, I catch myself and get embarrassed though.

 

[cheese]

Yes, all the time, and I have the same problem as Cavallierose. I make up characters, stories, accents, the whole deal. Other times I simply treat myself as an audience and discuss issues/events of the day. It's very interesting. I honestly feel like I'm my own best friend - like there are two people in me so closely entwined as to be one. Sometimes I hug myself out of sheer affection. Ah, it's good to be cheese...isn't it, baby.

I've also got voices and visions though. Perhaps something's amiss.

 

[Cogwulf]

Usually, the only times I talk to myself are to chastise myself for making mistakes, such as:
"You stupid fool, you've put your coat on backwards"

 

[Artifice Orisit]

Metaconversation, a very useful tool for multi-perspective analysis and making your co-workers believe your going nuts, which is very entertaining.

Lacking anything else productive to say, here's a song.
My Ego - Regurgitator

 

[Anthile]

No, I don't do this. I'm too afraid that someone might listen. I assumed that in an INTP forum people would be more paranoid.

 

[Yellow]

I talk to myself a out loud.. and I talk to my cats and plants rather frequently. I'm not even embarassed about it.. I think girls get away with appearing crazy more often than dudes. I only really do one thing that is weird enough to be embarassing. After a conversation with a person, even up to an hour or so later, I take the last sentence the other person gave me, and I spell it out in my head and put it to a tune (this isn't the weird part). Once in a while, especially when I'm like waiting in line or something, I will absentmindedly sing it out loud...

edit:

No, I don't do this. I'm too afraid that someone might listen. I assumed that in an INTP forum people would be more paranoid.

Maybe because I'm a bit light on the 'P', but I have never been a paranoid kind of person.

 

[ifelloverboard]

I think there was another thread on this. I still maintain that talking to yourself is perfectly sane and fine. I do it all the time (when others are not there)

My grandma died when she was like 46 and I always remember my grandpa talking to himself out loud while he drove down the road with others there. I contest that if he didn't talk out loud sometimes that he would have gone crazy by her absence. Sometimes you have to actually hear it and let that part of your brain that receives information take it in. At least that's the best BS I can come up with to justify talking to myself.

 

[Da Blob]

I have talked to my self my entire life, I think a big chunk of my brain is dedicated to the production of words. It keeps on churning out words, even when there is no one to share those words with...

However, I may have it worse than anyone else because not only do I talk to myself, I write to my self. I used to keep a journal -filled up a couple thousands of pages over the decades...

Within the last year, I even joined an internet forum, where I posted 1800 posts to my self... [

 

[phantome]

i constantly hold conversations with myself inside my head....which can lead to me muttering some things out loud (accompanied by weird looks from whoever was near me when i did so [x )

 

[UppyDownyMouth]

i constantly hold conversations with myself inside my head....which can lead to me muttering some things out loud (accompanied by weird looks from whoever was near me when i did so [x )

ever find yourself laughing out loud or smiling at your own thoughts as well? like ill be walking down the street and ill just have a little out burst ...

 

[phantome]

ever find yourself laughing out loud or smiling at your own thoughts as well? like ill be walking down the street and ill just have a little out burst ...

YES. its worse when i'm in class though since i tend to zone out into my own thoughts and then have to disguise random fits of laughter/giggles by coughing or moving my stuff around (or anything such as that)

 

[Ilmlas]

I think that since it might make me even consider the idea of being insane, I don't speak to myself out loud. Ever. But do I constantly go back and forth with myself in my head? Every second of every waking day!

 

[Felan]

I've told people one of the nice things about having a parrot is that if I get caught talking to myself I can say I'm talking to the parrot.

I talk to myself while walking, working out problems, or going to sleep. I suppress it when in sight of other people mostly to avoid making them uncomfortable.

 

[Cavallier]

After a conversation with a person, even up to an hour or so later, I take the last sentence the other person gave me, and I spell it out in my head and put it to a tune (this isn't the weird part). Once in a while, especially when I'm like waiting in line or something, I will absentmindedly sing it out loud...

I thought I was the only one who did that...

This is something I've done ever since I was little. If a word, phrase, or sentence catches my fancy I'll put a tune to it and then it'll be stuck in my head all day. My mother says that when I was a child I would take the things she said, absent minded things that rhymed or were silly, and I'd sing them to her all day long. My poor mother.

I agree that girls get away with this more than guys. I think that girls are expect to be more chatty regardless of who their audience is.

I wonder if this muttering to ourselves or holding conversations with ourselves in our heads relates to talking in our sleep. I talk in my sleep all the time and have had almost an entire conversation with my roommate while asleep...maybe I should start a separate thread on this topic...

 

[random extra #7]

I do it all the time. Usualy it's in my head but sometimes I randomly blurt out some words .

 

[Ghost1986]

I spend an unusual amount of time completely alone, and I think it messes with my head because I pretend I'm having conversations with other people, out loud. It's just because I'm bored though. I don't talk to myself in public or when there's anyone else around.

oh oh me too! only i talk to my self in public too, just in my head though, not out loud.

 

[RubberDucky451]

I talk to myself when I'm trying to solve a difficult problem.

Por ejemplo, i was trying to solve a font problem on my Mac and i sounded quite insane. Sometimes me and my INFP sister will both talk to ourselves in the same room, it's very interesting.

 

[echoplex]

More than anything, I tend to have alot of running dialogue in my own head. Along with this, I also make up songs, stories, and then critics of said creations. It's almost impossible for an analytical mind not to analyze itself eventually. So far, reviews have been hit-and-miss of my own creations -- the biggest criticism being that my imaginary characters are too "fucked up to have any relevant impact on the real world." However, that's not what the creators were going for anyway. They were trying to be irreverent and edgy. Stupid critics.

As far as talking out loud though, I usually only do this when I do something stupid.

 

[AmitaF]

I talk to myself the most, whether myself is manifesting in some imaginary character, or I'm following some thread of thoughts...actually, sometimes it's like I'm talking to more than one self...a group talk XD...
I talk out loud when I'm trying to solve something, when I do something stupid, and of course when I'm analyzing something, so it's like 24/7
I talk to myself in public and alone, and sometimes I even find myself fighting with myself while walking ..do people think I'm crazy? I never tried to hide it and frankly, I don't care, I find my inner selves more interesting that most people, so I rather discuss things with her/them

 

[merzbau]

it's not that i'm talking to myself.. that implies something crazy. it's more like i'm simply talking to another person, except that they're absent.
when i'm alone i also recite comedy sketches out loud, in order to cheer myself up. that way everyone is spared the full brunt of my vitriol. how considerate i am to the normals.

 

[boredwolf]

I talk to myself alot, I dont know why its like unconsiously haha I spaceout alot. Nice to find this forum

 

[Yellow]

I thought I was the only one who did that...

This is something I've done ever since I was little. If a word, phrase, or sentence catches my fancy I'll put a tune to it and then it'll be stuck in my head all day. My mother says that when I was a child I would take the things she said, absent minded things that rhymed or were silly, and I'd sing them to her all day long. My poor mother.

I agree that girls get away with this more than guys. I think that girls are expect to be more chatty regardless of who their audience is.

I wonder if this muttering to ourselves or holding conversations with ourselves in our heads relates to talking in our sleep. I talk in my sleep all the time and have had almost an entire conversation with my roommate while asleep...maybe I should start a separate thread on this topic...

Yeah I can engage in simple conversations while asleep as well. It drives my husband nuts because he will just assume I remembered the conversation.

 

[Adymus]

I've been talking to myself ever since I was a little kid and it has neither increased nor decreased as I got older. There is constantly a conversation going on in my head anyway, the only difference is I am verbalizing parts of it when alone.

 

[Chimera]

I do the "make up fictional characters and talk with them" thing. It's strictly when I'm alone, and it's something I've done since I was 9 or 10. Over the years, my characters have developed somewhat frighteningly...they each have their own stories, personalities, voices, and uses to me. When I'm bored enough, I vocalize interactions between them...there was a time when I think I had a "crush" on one and I constantly curled my hand a bit like I was holding his.

And I do talk out loud, but I barely move my lips at all and I'm too quiet to attract attention unless someone is in my personal bubble.

I've always comforted myself by saying I just have an overactive imagination. ​

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I lecture myself. Telling myself all the things I'm doing wrong. I don't need to get married as I have my own inner nag.

 

[NightCharm]

I talk to myself, as well as participate in various versions of such. I will mutter criticisms to myself, hold conversations in my head with myself, hold shouting matches with what I used to call "Other", attach a phrase or quote to a tune, make up speeches in my head in response to anything someone says that catches my attention and then mutter parts of them aloud... sometimes hours after the conversation is over. If I'm speaking to someone and they fail to pay attention, when they finally realize I was speaking and ask what I said I glare at them and tell them that they are insane because they failed to realize that I was speaking to myself, even though I truly was speaking to them.

 

[Anling]

I also have the incessant internal dialogue. It sometimes spills out verbally or in writing. Also random melodies. I do talk to plants, animals, and inanimate objects sometimes.

I don't think I'm crazy anyway. I find it helpful to discuss things with myself. Though often it takes me a while to come to a consensus.

 

[nickgray]

I just spent half an hour debating an issue with me. In English language, for some reason. I do like to talk to myself or explain something to an imaginary listener, it really helps to solidify the abstract thoughts, concepts and ideas into something more meaningful and useful, something that is easier to operate with. I have this strange idea about layers of thoughts and concepts - there's a layer where concepts are constantly formed and destroyed, the one that pose any interest move to another layer, where they are subjected to interpretation from different points of view, some fade away, some float in that sea of thoughts for months. Finally, by chance or when needed, the "good" concepts can or may be transformed into something meaningful not only to oneself, but to other people as well, 'To put it into words', so to speak.

Does this sound weird and/or crazy?

 

[Chimera]

Does this sound weird and/or crazy?

Do intps ever sincerely say something is weird and/or crazy? ​

 

[Fool]

I don't talk to myself alone, but I can carry on entire conversations in my head. It's how I think, make decisions, and sometimes entertain myself. That would lead to the random laughing out loud.

Exactly what I do. I can't talk to myself out loud, it reminds me too much on my grandma.

 

[preilemus]

I do internal monologues. i guess this might be getting off topic, but lately i have noticed that I already fully comprehend my thoughts before I tell them to myself in english, so I'm trying to devise a way to take the english translation out of my cognitive comprehension process, so that way I can think faster. so far all it amounts to is stopping when I notice myself doing it though.

 

[noisewar]

I talk to myself frequently if I am under stress, working or doing hands on things.

 

[Dormouse]

I do internal monologues. i guess this might be getting off topic, but lately i have noticed that I already fully comprehend my thoughts before I tell them to myself in english, so I'm trying to devise a way to take the english translation out of my cognitive comprehension process, so that way I can think faster. so far all it amounts to is stopping when I notice myself doing it though.

That's funny, because I'm exactly the same way. Although, if I know I understand something I usually just drop the english translation midway. Or become frustrated with my lack of vocabulary. I'm actually working on that, I find I develop abstract thoughts alot more if I make the effort to compose a mental essay.

 

[transformers]

I don't so much talk to myself as think out loud, and then only infrequently.

 

[Mr.W]

I'll confess, I often talk to myself verbally, though never mentally. I don't have conversations with myself that play out in my head. I've always thought of my inner dialogue as simply being directed to an empty void. When I speak out loud, however, I connect that with the auditory sensation of interacting with a live person. It's like my voice is talking with my thoughts and vice versa.

Generally it's over very mundane topics, like complaining about other drivers or when I'm very pleased at something or when something totally insane happens in a show or movie (Watching me watch Lost would have been interesting), but most importantly I use it to reduce stress. When I'm stressed I occasionally find it relaxing to work something out verbally rather than just in my head. I tell myself it's no big deal and that life is too short to worry about it, etc. Kind of like having an invisible friend their to show me support. Who happens to have the same voice as I do.

 

[cheese]

I do internal monologues. i guess this might be getting off topic, but lately i have noticed that I already fully comprehend my thoughts before I tell them to myself in english, so I'm trying to devise a way to take the english translation out of my cognitive comprehension process, so that way I can think faster. so far all it amounts to is stopping when I notice myself doing it though.

I find visualisation is really useful for speed. Images are much more compact and immediate than words. Thinking in words is very good for building other mental skills though, such as concentration. Also a good way to double-check your thoughts.

 

[Ashenstar]

I am bringing this thread up to tell what happened this morning.

I was walking the 20 min to work and talking to myself for about 15 minutes of the walk. I have made a habit of looking behind me before I start really jabbering so that I can see if anyone is behind me.
The sidewalk was clear for as far as I could see.
So I started engaging in a conversation about.. gods.. I don't even remember what. Probably a whole bunch of stuff. I was talking out loud .... rather audibly as if there was a second person next to me. To make matters worse I was pretending to talk to someone I know.
Then, as I was walking along chatting, a guy walked up beside me and continued walking in front of me. Luckily he didn't acknowledge my presence which helped spare me some embarrassment.
I was trying to convince myself that he didn't think I was a weirdo and that I just sounded as if I was on a cell phone.

So, in my pitiful attempt to not be crazy I tried to start making it sound as though I was on a cell. I mean, if I just stopped talking... it would be obvious I had been caught talking to myself like a looney. So I said things like "mmmmhmm. yeah" and waited a pause here and there to try and make it more convincing. Then I realized that..... one hand was holding my umbrella and the other was out in the open clutching my lunch bag and it was obvious I was not holding a cell.

*sigh*

 

[Cogwulf]

I am bringing this thread up to tell what happened this morning.

I was walking the 20 min to work and talking to myself for about 15 minutes of the walk. I have made a habit of looking behind me before I start really jabbering so that I can see if anyone is behind me.
The sidewalk was clear for as far as I could see.
So I started engaging in a conversation about.. gods.. I don't even remember what. Probably a whole bunch of stuff. I was talking out loud .... rather audibly as if there was a second person next to me. To make matters worse I was pretending to talk to someone I know.
Then, as I was walking along chatting, a guy walked up beside me and continued walking in front of me. Luckily he didn't acknowledge my presence which helped spare me some embarrassment.
I was trying to convince myself that he didn't think I was a weirdo and that I just sounded as if I was on a cell phone.

So, in my pitiful attempt to not be crazy I tried to start making it sound as though I was on a cell. I mean, if I just stopped talking... it would be obvious I had been caught talking to myself like a looney. So I said things like "mmmmhmm. yeah" and waited a pause here and there to try and make it more convincing. Then I realized that..... one hand was holding my umbrella and the other was out in the open clutching my lunch bag and it was obvious I was not holding a cell.

*sigh*

People have bluetooth hands-free kits now, like these:

I only ever think people are talking to themselves nowadays if they look like they can't afford a phone.

 

[Ashenstar]

I gave that some consideration too... but well.. of course I'm going to assume that he just thinks I'm crazy.