I have always had an internal voice like a narrator in my head of my own voice

I have listened to that audiobook 3 times now. I love it 

I only read about in a book called Untypical by Pete Wharmby. He said he experienced with his own voice I agreed.  It only came to light in my mind when I had read the book and had never thought of it before.  

I agree hyperfocus turn off for me I just get into a zone if I am working or studying.  

My tells me to drink pop. 

Me too. I am glad to hear I am not alone in this. 

I agree with this Roy.  I don't like to have big weeks with lots of socializing and I can hear my self think and I am not lonely. It only get worse when I have to meet people in groups and I am scripted automically prior to the event.  

I do the same with movies ones I really like I will play over again. 

I agree with this statement Neil and yes I find being autistic exhausting. 

Thank you for your advice Martin.  

Me too. This helps me think that those people who don't have that voice crave the company of others. And they say we have deficits!

It helps me process and make sense of the things around me. Like others have said, I don't think linearly, or in words, and it takes me time to find the galaxy inside my mind to find what you want to talk about, then more time to narrow it down to focus, so often I am still trying to understand the question when the conversation has moved on to another area.

Replaying or rehearsing conversations is helpful too, I wouldn't want to change that. But sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to have a 'pause' button...

a gift

I have two other voices in my head besides my own. One is a nurturing and soothing female motherly voice and reaches for me while I'm in the maelstroms of meltdown or fear. The other is a neutral voice, neither male nor female, a wise advisor. At night I ask for a lullaby if my brain is too busy to let go.

I think visually. Don’t have an internal monologue. If I’m anxious about something, I see what I’m anxious about as opposed to having those classic “what if” thoughts. If I get anxious my partner gonna crash the car and die, I see the impact and the destruction, I don’t think “she’s gonna die” so for me everything is visual, apart from songs which are usually playing in my head

I still don't see how it can be an auditory hallucination if you know it's just you thinking. The whole point of a hallucination is something you think is real which isn't. My husband has schizophrenia and has had various kinds of hallucinations during psychosis, he also has an inner monologue as how he thinks, even when he has been on higher doses of antipsychotics. Unlike me, he isn't actually thinking all the time, but nonetheless he finds the idea of people not having an inner monologue very strange. (Like how I find that his is not on all the time strange!)

I think the difference is to do with both perception and control, one has no control over auditory hallucinations, so they are perceived to be outside oneself, even if in the mind, but the inner monologue is like when you speak but in your head. Which is not to to say one can necessarily shut up, but one can make a conscious effort to switch the topic, though we maybe tend to revert to an obsession when not paying attention. We can have this problem with speaking out loud too...

It's a bit like an earworm, can't easily shut it up, with some effort can maybe switch tunes (with mixed success!) but even that is not an auditory hallucination. If one is in psychosis though, an earworm might be perceived as actual music coming from outside. It's tricky when the control is limited, maybe it gets to a grey border between the two, but the combo of control and perception does make it possible to draw a line somewhere I think.

AuTriker said:

it is not an auditory hallucination as I am not under the impression I am actually hearing it from outside myself.

They are according to the definition from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23233-auditory-hallucinations

A person may perceive auditory hallucinations as coming through their ears, on the surface of their body, in their mind or from anywhere in the space around them.

I have the inner voice of me all the time, not just when "reading in my head". I can't shut it off, but it is not an auditory hallucination as I am not under the impression I am actually hearing it from outside myself.

AuTriker said:

As far as we know, between 25% and 50% of all people have some kind of inner monologue.

It depends very much on how you define this inner monologue.

The original post talked about voices that could not be shut off so are not the same as when you read some text and "hear" it as you go.

Only around 10% of people have true auditory hallucinations  at some point in their life (source https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28956518/ )

Take5 said:

So generally are we saying that NT’s don’t self talk or have I misunderstood that?

No, I think you misunderstood. As far as we know, between 25% and 50% of all people have some kind of inner monologue. Also some autistic people (ie Temple Grandin) do not have one (apparently she thinks entirely visually).

If the voice is the same one that converts the written word, when you read, into an internal pseudo-voice then I think it is fine. It is just a facet of thinking, cognition. In many pre-modern societies people who read without saying the words out loud were considered to be amazing. It is the constant rehearsal of possible future conversations - scripting - that is the autistic thing, and yes it can be very tiresome.

I share your problem also but it’s my critical wife next to me that causes the pressure!