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People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

theguardian.com

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Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#261

Post by gala8y »

drcongo wrote: post #260

I'm one of these people. I have constant chatter from around six distinct voices in my head if I'm not concentrating on something. It makes getting to sleep extremely difficult (I have to listen to the radio, take melatonin etc). Possibly even more annoying is that I'm unable to meditate - it is impossible for me to empty my mind of thoughts, as soon as I get anywhere near doing so, I find myself listening in to the…

I met few people with exceptional amounts of chatter 24/7. I haven't work with any of them (psychologically), but, best to my knowledge, it is something that serves specific functions(s) in your mind and is susceptible to change, when approached systemically (not treated as a symptom, but rather in a perspective of totality of your experience/existence).

The basic direction is not to get away from it (to supress it using radio), but welcome it, get interested (edit: how would name those six voices?). Of course I can not go any further than tell you, that it is possible to change, imo, if you want to.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#262

Post by drcongo »

gala8y wrote: post #261
drcongo wrote: post #260

I'm one of these people. I have constant chatter from around six distinct voices in my head if I'm not concentrating on something. It makes getting to sleep extremely difficult (I have to listen to the radio, take melatonin etc). Possibly even more annoying is that I'm unable to meditate - it is impossible for me to empty my mind of thoughts, as soon as I get anywhere near doing so, I find myself listening in to the…

I met few people with exceptional amounts of chatter 24/7. I haven't work with any of them (psychologically), but, best to my knowledge, it is something that serves specific functions(s) in your mind and is susceptible to change, when approached systemically (not treated as a symptom, but rather in a perspective of totality of your experience/existence). The basic direction is not to get away from it (to supress it u…

Thanks for the tip, I do sometimes immerse myself in it and it can be kinda fun, but it's never relaxing. Most of the chatter I can hear is nonsense so it's not particularly interesting to listen to. As a side note, sometimes those voices take on the voice of someone I know in real life, that's always a bit more interesting.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#263

Post by gala8y »

drcongo wrote: post #262
gala8y wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met few people with exceptional amounts of chatter 24/7. I haven't work with any of them (psychologically), but, best to my knowledge, it is something that serves specific functions(s) in your mind and is susceptible to change, when approached systemically (not treated as a symptom, but rather in a perspective of totality of your experience/existence). The basic direction is not to get away from it (to supress it u…

Thanks for the tip, I do sometimes immerse myself in it and it can be kinda fun, but it's never relaxing. Most of the chatter I can hear is nonsense so it's not particularly interesting to listen to. As a side note, sometimes those voices take on the voice of someone I know in real life, that's always a bit more interesting.

It is really interesting for me - this 'it's nonsense most of the time' part. (As I mentioned in another comment, I work doing Voice Dialogue, which is basically meeting those voices in you and talking with them.)

I shouldn't write it here, but just try talking to them. Ask 'who are you?' to one of them and wait for the answer.

Of course one could say that this is indiscriminate chatter due to activity of parts of your brain, but I would still insist that if you make an effort you will see patterns in this noise and will be able to make sense of it and change it (where sense is not directly in the content, but rather in a broader view of it all).

As I work with myself and other people, I have never experienced anything like prolonged presence of a voice taking qualities of "someone I know in real life" - I would be curious to find whys and hows here.

But the very simple framework of recognizing kinds of energies inside us (agressive vs. delicate, goal oriented vs. being oriented, protecting/conservative (even protective of accessing other energies inside) vs. seeking/adventerous and so on) and states they are in (is energy on/off, over the limit, so on)... has showed me time and again that trying to get in touch with them by engaging in a conversation with them brings remarkable results.

All the best.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#264

Post by smeej »

distances wrote: post #229
smeej wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably look like those people, but I wonder if their experience actually is as you say or if it's like mine. I do talk to myself out loud, constantly, but it's still actually only a very tiny percentage of the thoughts that are in my mind. I wonder if it would look like most of my thoughts were coming out of my mouth from the outside. At any given time there are at least 6 tracks running in my head, sometimes twi…

> At any given time there are at least 6 tracks running in my head, sometimes twice that many, thinking about all kinds of different things at varying levels of depth. This sounds interesting. Can these tracks all proceed fine in parallel, can you collect and write down the simultaneous lines of thought afterwards if you wish? I feel like I have just one execution pipeline, which I consider to be my conscious self. B…

It's more like background processes. They very rarely reach a critical point all at the same time, but I make progress toward several conclusions at once, including while I'm sleeping (I'm also a lucid dreamer, but I don't know if that's related.)

When one of them does reach an important point, it's like it pops up a notification and reminds me about itself, so then I'll either write down what needs to be done or just take the action if it's quick.

It's rare that they alert at the same time, but yes, when they do, I can just record the statuses consecutively as quickly as I can.

For example, in college, I'd often compose whole papers in my head over the course of weeks for several subjects at once, and then just sit down and write them down in an afternoon.

This was extremely frustrating to my thesis advisor, who wanted to see "progress" at various checkpoints, but I didn't have anything deliverable until I pressed the metaphorical "print" button in my head and wrote 100 pages in the final week.

The whole project was in my head already. It just didn't exist in discrete, completed form until it was finished processing. I didn't write the chapters separately.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#265

Post by smeej »

josephg wrote: post #257
smeej wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started going by a nickname as an adult and that was what made me realize the voice in my head that constantly told me I wasn't good enough wasn't mine, but my narcissistic father's. It still called me by the name he gave me, not the name I call myself. So now it's under the same restrictions he is. It doesn't have my permission to speak to me anymore.

Does that work? When you tell that voice to shut up, does it fall silent?

No more than my actual father's voice does, but that doesn't mean I have to hear it.

From my family members who are still in touch with him, I hear that my dad sends me angry or manipulative messages fairly frequently, but just like I have all my electronic forms of communication set to delete his messages without opening them because I've firmly decided I don't care what they say, the rest of my mind dismisses his voice in my head as pathetic, irrelevant, and not even worth hearing.

Once I realized the opinions of that voice deserved to be regarded with contempt--specifically contempt, and _very_ occasionally pity--it became much easier not to be their victim.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#266

Post by gala8y »

sammalloy wrote: post #245
gala8y wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My reaction to caffeine is very strong. Can you tell me anything more about genetic sensitivity to caffeine? Did you have it tested/determined?

Yes, but only on 23andMe. I’ve also known I had an issue with it most of my life. https://www.23andme.com/topics/wellness/caffeine-consumption People who don’t have this sensitivity can drink coffee at any time. I can only drink early in the morning, and if I have it after noon, I’ll never get to bed.

Thx. It's just difficult for me to stay away from coffee sometimes, even if it gives me shakes.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#267

Post by drcongo »

gala8y wrote: post #263
drcongo wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the tip, I do sometimes immerse myself in it and it can be kinda fun, but it's never relaxing. Most of the chatter I can hear is nonsense so it's not particularly interesting to listen to. As a side note, sometimes those voices take on the voice of someone I know in real life, that's always a bit more interesting.

It is really interesting for me - this 'it's nonsense most of the time' part. (As I mentioned in another comment, I work doing Voice Dialogue, which is basically meeting those voices in you and talking with them.) I shouldn't write it here, but just try talking to them. Ask 'who are you?' to one of them and wait for the answer. Of course one could say that this is indiscriminate chatter due to activity of parts of yo…

Thanks again for the replies, actually interacting with them is something I've never even considered - my mental model of them is as a group of "others", only interested in interacting with each other, and I'm a mere eavesdropper. Most of the time it sounds like two or three conversations going on at once, and I'm only able to pick out the occasional word from each of them, which is what I meant by nonsense - it could just be that I'm only getting a small portion of several perfectly sensible conversations. I'll give this a go.

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#268

Post by gala8y »

drcongo wrote: post #267
gala8y wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is really interesting for me - this 'it's nonsense most of the time' part. (As I mentioned in another comment, I work doing Voice Dialogue, which is basically meeting those voices in you and talking with them.) I shouldn't write it here, but just try talking to them. Ask 'who are you?' to one of them and wait for the answer. Of course one could say that this is indiscriminate chatter due to activity of parts of yo…

Thanks again for the replies, actually interacting with them is something I've never even considered - my mental model of them is as a group of "others", only interested in interacting with each other, and I'm a mere eavesdropper. Most of the time it sounds like two or three conversations going on at once, and I'm only able to pick out the occasional word from each of them, which is what I meant by nonsense - it coul…

This constant chatter may play some odd (not easily revealed) functions. Try interacting with them and observe the reply (any change will be kind of reply/reaction). Try different questions. Try talking to them. I have an old twitter handle (@wmbley) if you want to drop me a line. Enjoy. :)

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#269

Post by checkyoursudo »

fbanon wrote: post #214
checkyoursudo wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no first-hand experience with what it's like, so I cannot comment on the veracity of what people have told me or I have read about it since learning about aphantasia. However, my wife assures me that it is in fact like a real, hi-def movie playing in her mind, and I have since read a number of accounts of artists who literally just draw or paint exactly what they see with their minds' eye(s), and talked with p…

I've asked a few people and everyone said that their imagination is not as hi-def as their vision. I.e. when they imagine something it's not like an image was cut & pasted onto their visual field. So I'm pretty sure your friends were exaggerating, or meant hi-def in a different sense.

I'm not so sure.

"Our discovery, or rediscovery, that around 2-3% of the population, with aphantasia, lack a mind’s eye, and that a somewhat larger percentage, with hyperphantasia, have imagery that is ‘as vivid as real seeing’ has captured huge public interest, and led to a sustained surge of citizen science. We have been astonished – and delighted – to receive over 14,000 contacts from members of the public with extreme imagery since coining the terms in 2015."[1]

> ‘as vivid as real seeing’

I can only take others' word for it, but why would I disbelieve this? Especially when I myself have the other extreme of nothingness? Why would so many people lie or exaggerate about seeing mental imagery "as vivid as real seeing"?

[1] https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/eyesmind/2020/05/04/an-update-on-...

Re: People who have unusual, or non-existent, inner voices

#270

Post by me_me_me »

thom wrote: post #172

Felt a bit crestfallen reading this because I’m not convinced I have one of these. I subvocalise constantly, and I can picture things well, but I’m the originator of those thoughts. Of course sometimes I’ll be saying “that was dumb” or “you’re being an arsehole” but it’s still me saying it. I take it from the article that for some people these thoughts occur unbidden, and I find myself a little envious that my subcon…

I think I am a bit like you, I hear voice (my voice when I type or read) and I comment in my head on things around be and things I do, but its me-me, it feels 100% like part of my consciousness aligned with me. It doesn't feel like a separate entity commenting on my life.

I find it fascinating reading about how others' heads are working.

I tied to learn to read faster, and one of the techniques is to stop your inner voice, but I failed. Though maybe I enjoy reading more and acting out the text in my head

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