Anyone else talk to themselves?

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Hi everyone,

I've had a recent diagnosis (this week) for ASD.

I constantly talk to myself when I'm doing activities or planning things and also when I'm feeling upset as well.

I'm perfectly comfortable with it, as I feel it's just a part of me now.

Do any of your find yourself nattering away to yourself?
How do you manage it in public? What kind of reactions to people give you?

Yes I am always talking to myself. Thankfully, NTs probably just think I'm talking into a blue tooth. Actually, they probably assume I'm on meth because that's very prevalent around where I live. Jeez. This is why I don't like leaving my apartment.

Yes; probably most of the time, in fact. I try to do it silently in my head when there are folks around, but I slip into doing it out loud very easily, and it very often takes quite a while before I notice that I have. I was noted for it in my last job, though thankfully had very understanding colleagues (aside from when my language got a bit foul now and then!) If I get caught, I start going "la la la" in the hope that folks think I'm singing along to an ear-worm, but I get enough funny looks to know that it doesn't fool people much!

I'm convinced that it does serve a purpose though. It seems to help a lot with my executive functioning problems. If I just try to silently think my way through a process, the thoughts go off on tangents or just get lost completely a lot of the time. Hearing myself talk my way through something seems to bypass whatever bit of my brain they get lost in, so that action more easily follows thought in the way that most people would expect.

I've said for many years that "I'm my own best friend". Yes, I talk to myself. It helps with with executive functioning. It helps with working through decisions. It helps with philosophical contemplation. It's comforting.

Usually I talk to myself on my daily walks. I don't talk out loud constantly, but often I'll have a train of thought and make a comment, observation or idea out loud about it. To an observer, it would seem utterly random when it's not.

I'm aware of it enough where if others are around (e.g. a store) I will at most, whisper or avoid talking out loud altogether. They are my own private thoughts after all...

I used to until my mom suggested I stop as back in the 70s, it was a sign of mental illness.

Yes, I jibber jabber to myself all day long. It used to make me believe I was crazy, but now I don't feel that way. ( I AM crazy, but not for talking to myself.)

For some reason I tend to talk to myself when I'm walking. I don't recite what I'm doing or planning though. Generally I have conversations with myself or other people in my head.

Same as Trog , I try to keep it contained to my head but it occasionally slips out ( I am conditioned enough not to do it in public ).

The majority of things that slip out is when I am ruminating and rerun past conversations ( and try to change permutations for a different outcome ) , if the conversation gets angry with colourful language , I'm more likely to let it out.

Especially if it's one of those rare moments when everyone else happens to go quiet at the same time!
The other one that's happened to me a few times is looking up to find some cheesed-off bloke twice the size of me wanting to know what I was saying about him. Mind you, it wouldn't be unreasonable to describe much of it as "scowling".


I can manage a good 30 years or more retrospect in the "people I had five minutes of idle conversation with and then never met again nor expected to" class alone. I can't go quite so far forwards, but it really unleashes my creativity; without any pesky evidence of what actually happened, the permutations are infinite. Such fun!

I talk to myself a lot, especially when working.
That's why my husband and me can't work simultanously in the same room.

It does seem to be a common Aspergers trait that I do have. I've gotten in trouble a lot for it at skewl, & just for making random noises. I kinda learned to force myself to mostly only do it when I'm alone in order to avoid trouble & embarrassment.

( I know I'm going to be off topic , OMGGG I was just thinking if anyone on this forum likes ferrets, I always wanted to get one and then I saw your default pic and user name ! !! LOLLLLLL )



Now back to topic, I remember when people just started using bluetooth for their phone, and at first I thought they were talking to themselves , and knowing I do ( talk to myself when Im alone at home ) I kept wondering is that how I really look when I talk out loud to myself lol

There's been a few times where I forget Im in public for example, if I'm at the store I usually mutter something under my breath and at times people would look at me, but then see my earbuds assuming Im on the phone, which Im not, I use it as a disguise lol

I live in the city & I see lots of people talking to themselves when I'm out walking around. Some are just muttering, some are singing or rapping something, & others are almost yelling. Half the time when I pass by people & hear them say something, I'm not sure if they're talking to me, themselves, or talking on the phone by some mic & earpiece.

I talk to myself in the privacy of my own home. I do that because I know that I'm the only person who will listen to me. Hopefully that will all change tomorrow after my first appointment with a mental health worker.

Less than I used to. My ex pointed out to me how it looked kinda crazy to other people and I've cut way down from how much I did do so back in college or before. But I still do, especially when I'm alone. For the most part I try not to when I'm around other people and am fairly successful in that, but it's still a work in progress.

Good Luck with your appointment