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Wolfpup
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21 Jan 2009, 1:15 pm

I'm reading a book, and got to a section I'm trying to understand. It mentions that:

Quote:
many people perceive their own thought processes as a kind of dialogue between the 'self' and another internal protagonist inside the head. Nowadays we understand that both 'voices' are our own...


Quote:
...was the moment in history when it dawned on people that the external voices that they seemed to be hearing were really internal.


Does that mean that some people literally hear two (or more) voices in their head? I just have one-me. I mean I talk to myself all the time, and I even carry on imaginary conversations with other people, but there's just me.

Do some people actually hear themselves as multiple voices? Do they sound different? Etc...

I'm just curious, and thought I should find out as I continue this book...



Starrsy
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21 Jan 2009, 1:23 pm

I occasionaly start whole converations with my "other self". I often just think of something and drop it. The "other voice" sounds just like mine just a bit deeper.


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Wolfpup
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21 Jan 2009, 1:27 pm

Does the 'other voice' have a different personality or anything like that? Talk at the same time?

I hold conversations with myself all the time, but it's just one 'voice'.

(Sorry, I'm just really curious about all this!)



RudolfsDad
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21 Jan 2009, 1:42 pm

Quote:
many people perceive their own thought processes as a kind of dialogue between the 'self' and another internal protagonist inside the head. Nowadays we understand that both 'voices' are our own...


Without the full context, it's hard to be sure but it sounds to me like this may not have been intended to be taken literally. When I think, I often have imagined conversations between myself and some other person. I don't actually HEAR anything -- it's just that I'm imagining what might be said in the conversation. I can imagine this in enough detail that it seems a little bit like an "internal dialogue" but I don't really hear anything. It sounds to me like that may be what the author is talking about.



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21 Jan 2009, 2:06 pm

I don't think anyone actually hears anything (apart from those with psychiatric disorders).

I use my 'internal voice' for everything - I don't imagine other sounds, just my own internal (unheard) voice imitating the sounds. My internal voice is used for mental tics too :?


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wendybird
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21 Jan 2009, 2:09 pm

I have imaginary conversations with imaginary people. In college I had a couple of specific characters. One of them had an Australian accent. I don't know whether this was because I would eventually want to be a novelist, or whether my enjoyment of writing came from my tendency to do this. Probably both. Anyway, the Australian man was not exactly distinct from me and didn't have his own name, but I definitely thought of him as imaginary.



Rafter613
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21 Jan 2009, 2:09 pm

I have this 'voice' that keeps above my thoughts and monitors my thoughts and actions. In Freudian terms, the superego.


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serenity
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21 Jan 2009, 2:13 pm

Wolfpup wrote:

Quote:
...was the moment in history when it dawned on people that the external voices that they seemed to be hearing were really internal.



I, at times make up people inside of my head to talk to, but they're always inside of my head. The para I quoted above seems to be alluding that some people hear voices outside of their head, and that's not something that I ever experience. Or am I taking it wrong?



mitharatowen
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21 Jan 2009, 2:17 pm

Well I used to hear constant chatter in my head as if I was in the middle of a crowded room - I couldn't really understand what they were saying except for the occasional snippet.

However, I beleive what this book is talking about is the internal dialog such as when trying to make an important decision. In these type of instances, I will argue with myself from both sides of the issue, but they are usually both my own voice. If there is something I am really upset about and trying to calm down, for instance, I will speak in an angry harsh voice contrasted with a calm one or ect depending on the situation. If I have the opportunity to be alone, I have spoken out loud to myself in the mirror and my face can change depending on which side of the issue I am speaking about.

I've also once had a random voice in my head that didn't specifically sound like me, it didn't sound like anything in particular, it was more like a random disjointed thought. It was often out of place and very random and would make me laugh at random times. I miss that guy :lol:

It's still all me, though.



galacticbear
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21 Jan 2009, 2:48 pm

i definately have internal chatter, but i don't actually hear any audio. sometimes i'll argue with myself and get angry because i know i should be acting a certain way or doing something besides what i'm currently doing, but the other part of me is too stubborn to change what i'm doing.

i also sometimes imagine other people talking to me and i'll somehow offend them (in my imagination), and then i'll see that person later and feel guilty for offending them even though i haven't actually said anything to them.



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21 Jan 2009, 4:42 pm

I could say that I have, in a sense, "inner voices", but I have never perceived them in any way like an external voice. They are not actually voices so much as opposing thoughts, which I sometimes take in turn in a way that resembles a conversation.

But by far, my thoughts are dominated by a single "voice", which is my own thought as it occurs to me, or as I walk through the process of expressing it. This is a voice only insofar as it is thoughts coded as words, but there is no clear sound in my head. I often find that I associate words more with the movements of my mouth than with the sounds that these movements produce, so I will mouth words as I think, but not speak them, and not imagine any voice.


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TallyMan
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21 Jan 2009, 4:46 pm

I talk to myself all the time... its the only way I can have an intellectual conversation :wink:

I used to think I was schizophrenic but I'm in two minds about that now.

No. Only joking. Just the one voice.


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21 Jan 2009, 4:53 pm

I'm pretty sure this is how a lot of people think. I also have conversations with my self. However, I would say that the "other voice", which is really just me, has a different tone to it. For example, I am very monotonous, but the other voice sounds more knowledgeable (almost condescending) and is basically the root of my depression. I argue with it quite often. When I find myself in high spirits (or just high) the "kind" voice is awakened. It comforts me, tells me I have nothing to prove, and has really helped shape who I am. This kind voice also comes while I am on salvia divinorum...but that's it, unfortunately.