Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone
Through out my life because of my autism I have always had an internal voice like a narrator in my head of my own voice. I find it really difficult to switch off as it constantly scripting future conversations with people. I have try doing mindful activities to make it stop and it make hard to sleep at night. I was wondering if anyone had advice on it?
Rainbowgirl said:Through out my life because of my autism I have always had an internal voice like a narrator in my head of my own voice.
This actually sounds more like a bipolar trait - also part of the neurodiverse spectrum.
This is something you should speak to a therapist for advice on since it may be something that will respond best to medication, but that would be for the specialists to decide.
If you get referred to a psychiatrist then don't worry - it is only because only psychiatrists can normally prescribe mediacation for this.
Huh? You mean it's not normal? I kind of always assumed everyone had it actually, but it seems not. And some autistic people don't think in words at all (Temple Grandin for example) but I am surprised you think it is bipolar?
AuTriker said:I am surprised you think it is bipolar?
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/hearing-voices-with-bipolar-disorder/
The worst part of this is not knowing how long it will go on for, and knowing I can’t escape it.
The fact that Rainbowgirl cannot shut it off may suggest this is a bipolar trait or possibly schizophrenia (this also has a high association with autism).
The auditory hallucinations are called psychosis and it depends on the interaction with them that can point to bipolar. Hopefully the link above may provide some additional guidance, but a professional with a specialism in the field is worth consulting with once it begins to cause problems.
There is a rather heavy going article into the subject here that explains it in more depth:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../
My friend is bipolar and adhd also.
He has the voice and constantly talks to himself using different voices, he makes up his own songs and repeats phrases a lot. I don’t see him much anymore but we both had a great way of communicating and entertaining each other. I miss our deep and crazy conversations.
That's interesting! Yes, I can switch to faster visual processing, or a mix of both. Words do slow things down, I think that can sometimes be a useful thing and sometimes not so much.
AuTriker said:Do you not have an inner monologue then Iain?
My brain will interprit what I read with a similar experience to hearing someone say it if that is what you mean but when working on projects, assessing a problem etc my mind works much faster than the speed of speech so it stops and a very different, more visual representation of issues begins to form in my mind.
I find this great for working on very complex situations or where there is too much "wordiness" to deal with - I guess something a bit like in the film Minority Report where they are working with touch screens and moving info around.
Changing from the voice to more visual thinking also helps a lot in getting to sleep as I can visualise scenes that are much more relaxing.
I do also read a lot - I'm reading 200-300 pages a day at the moment, mostly fantasy (Brandon Sanderson at the moment) as this is one of my favourite genres.
OK, thanks. I do think there is a difference between hearing voices/auditory hallucinations and having an inner monologue (I had to google it! Apparently many people do have an interior monologue, but only between a quarter and a half of people depending on source. And there are plenty of examples in literature, which would be why I thought it was normal.)
With an inner monologue, one is aware that it is oneself, it is like talking to yourself but not out loud, where with the hallucinations one thinks it is coming from somewhere else, outside oneself. It sounds to me more like the OP (original poster) has an inner monologue which never shuts up rather than it being auditory hallucinations, but she might clarify that.
For myself it's like when I am reading, it seems like my inner voice is reading aloud to me in my head, though if I skim read I skip that part and sometimes it is a mix of both ways of reading. So when I compose a reply I think the words to myself then type them. Then when I am just thinking, it is usually in words like that, but not always. It's not always a narrator as such, like I am not thinking, 'now I am typing, now I am pausing to think' it's a bit weird trying to define it! I shall stop trying as I may be going off topic a bit too...
Do you not have an inner monologue then Iain?