Autism and talking to yourself

Hi Jake!

I do this so much! I actually find it to be really comforting. Sometimes I use an American accent or pretend to be my favourite characters from shows. I have an Autistic brother and he talks out loud to himself a lot too! I think it is very much an ASD trait! 

Pets are the best confidants (except maybe not parrots). Cats in particular are special, sometimes they act like they understand.

haha yes a lot of the time when I'm by myself I say things aloud like "No [my name], don't be an idiot" or "right, you can do this" or "come on, I know you're tired but let's do one more question" to motivate myself, or I think aloud when I'm working. Maybe this is why I don't get lonely, I just keep myself company...

Also stuff inspired from counselling like "look, it's only anxiety that's telling you that" and "if that thing you're worried about did happen, what's the worst that could happen?".

I think it is an effective emotional regulation strategy. I reckon I give myself sensible logical advice and it has more authority if I say it aloud so it works better than saying it inside my head. 

I never used to talk to myself because I thought it was a sign of craziness. My mom talks to herself all the time and I grew up thinking it was wrong or odd. I’m now in my late 30s and have lived alone for over 10yrs. I never spoke to myself in this time the way some have described here until recently.

What’s different from other accounts here is that now I speak to myself in a child voice. I started doing this about 2yrs ago responding to my partner in a way that mimics the way a petulant child would (think Louise from Bobs Burgers). Now that I’m single, I speak to myself this way when I remember and reply to myself in the same voice. I’m curious to now whether anyone else does this in the community.

I feel quite alone on this but it makes me feel more connected to myself and the side of me I neglected through yrs of masking. 

I talk to myself too, always have, it can help me solve any worries and anxiety as well. 

I talk to myself aloud and in my head. I talk through whatever it is I'm doing like I'm explaining it to myself. I feel like there is a constant dialogue going on inside me but I just thought everyone did this? 

I'm rarely lonely as I prefer to be alone, but that is probably because I have kids and a nagging husband, a job with a lot of demands and responsibilities, and I'm a student. I crave to be alone in silence, yet rarely "switch off". I always talk to myself A LOT playing video games that don't really have a storyline. Like I'd play something like Columns on the Sega (Tetris type game) and I'd create a never-ending story around collecting the gems like I was at work or something, or if I didn't get enough that someone would die. It is entirely made up, I dont feel like anyone is REALLY going to die or anything like that. Most of the games I get addicted to are without a storyline and I have my own story going on. 

That's me!!!!! I have full blown conversations, have ever since I was a child. I've always preferred to converse with "imaginary friends" than with "real" people. It's not that I don't like people...I actually consider myself a "people-person". I just get so wrapped up in these amazing conversations I have with my IFs that I don't always want to come back to "earth".  Also, I occasionally go inexplicably mute when I met new people, so that makes holding actual conversations hard.

Always talking to myself, me. Imaginary conversations with people, or sometimes pointless repetitive phrases. Try not to do this when others are around...

100% with you with your description on this! Snapsnapsnap! :)

Hi Jake, great to read this, thanks for sharing!  As I get older [40s now] I'm talking to myself even more - from the moment I get up to going to sleep!  TBH I love it!  It helps me direct and organise myself, think stuff through 100%, calm and reassure myself.  I know for sure it's completely NOT mad... buuuut I, of course, also know that few others do this.  Family chuckle at me, and TBH I chuckle too.  It doesn't bother me, it's an idiosyncrasy that, for me, is a completely natural flow and behaviour.  Oh and one benefit of wearing a mask in the supermarket these days is that [I whisper, duh!] no-one can know I'm doing it! ;)  Not yet diagnosed, and am curious to read about this as a 'symptom' of an aspie-wired brain. :)

harmless really

I self-talk a lot of the time when I'm stressed or trying to figure something out. Probably one of the reasons I got a cat was so I could talk to him.  

Hi Jake. 

Dont talk to myself but do write lots down and think it's a way of catching and organising thought processes which sort of makes sense it's just a different gateway of doing things? 

Usually explain to customers what building works they need and how project will unfold as I'm scoping sometimes far too much information and now you've mentioned subject am wondering if theres element of talking to myself by proxy while taking customer with me  - probably none as I wouldnt be talking to myself if I was alone, just get on with recording info. 

Hi, Jake:

Yes, I absolutely do the same thing. I talk out loud to myself all day, including at my workplace if no one else is in the room. I have noticed that as I have gotten older I do it more freely. I am also increasingly unaware of when I start to do it - I just suddenly find myself in the middle of a sentence, talking to myself.

I seem to most commonly talk to myself either when I’m organizing myself prior to commencing multiple tasks to get done in a limited amount of time, or when I am internally processing some frustration related to someone I have recently dealt with at work, and must deal with again. Part of my purpose in doing the latter is rehearsing how to deal with them next time (and globally), and part of it is calming self-talk.

There are two other people in my family, which is large, whom I suspect have ASD. One of them talks to herself constantly when she has a lot to do and is organizing herself.

So, although the trait might be rare among people with ASD, it can be a trait from what I can tell. :-)

Have a super day,

Elizabeth

I do find I talk to myself quite often - and it's definitely something people have noticed, too.

Most often I think I use it as a way of keeping myself focused when I'm about to lost my train of thought or concentration... like "what was it you walked in here for? oh, yes you wanted water" or "that's not what you meant to do, you wanted to do this instead". I do this in front of people and most people (partner, family, colleagues) are used to it.

I sometimes have conversations with myself - or rather, it's not really with myself, but to an imaginary person. Almost as if I need to talk something through with another person, or in preparation for the event of me ever having the conversation with a real person. This, however, is something I'm extremely conscious about not doing in front of others!

Sounds like another reason they often associated autism with schizophrenia (which they don't anymore)....but I also talk to myself a lot but I think that may yes, be part of the autism but it's also a part of loneliness.

I talk out loud to myself constantly. Almost as if there's somebody else in the room that I'm explaining something to, or sharing a personal narrative with. I only do it when I'm entirely alone- which for me is the majority of my day. (I live and work alone.) I also have a distinct tendency to analyze and problem-solve by talking through something out loud. (Whether alone or in discussion with another person.) I think it's because my sensory processing is so intense and expansive, that translating such a massive amount of information into the restrictive confines of language helps me to mentally "pare down" and organize so much stimuli into a cohesive conclusion. It's like thinking via verbalization. I also sometimes act out imagined scenarios when I'm alone, like joking around with my friends at a party, for example. I only recently have begun to understand this as a rehearsal process for future social interactions, to lessen the exhaustion from extended masking sessions by already having my lines down pat. Which thus also helps me to have a more genuine, enjoyable time at said party. I hope some of this helps- I've said all of it out loud during the writing process, and it sounded pretty solid to ME, haha!

I impersonate others to myself.

I find the last link quite concerning, personally. I don't see why an intervention with self-talk is seen as a positive thing to the educator(s) behind this site when (to my mind) it's a valuable way to calm one's self or (for me, at least) to work through what I'm thinking.

I do this too, I thought most people, it helps actually to find things in the fridge if you pronounce the name... something in the brain. Or to get your thoughts lined up better.

If you talk to yourself, you talk to somebody who truly cares for you and really honestly wants only the best to you! (just joking)