Is there a correlation between personality types and whether or not you have an internal monologue?

36 comments

1. I’ve totally got an internal monologue and often refer to myself as ‘we’ when I’m in conversation with myself (in my/our brain).

2. I don’t have an internal dialogue yet I’d still class myself as similar to you (minus the distraction from thoughts) I think it goes in hand with my r/Aphantasia

3. Shit FM broadcasting 24/7 here

4. >(all in full sentence, in my actual voice, inside my head)

   I don’t have this and don’t have anything that could ever be described as a ‘monologue’ in my mind.

   However, I still have a constant stream of consciousness going on. I’m also a worrier. Disorganised. Constantly weighing up risks, making judgments. I’m successful in my work.

   It’s not like the absence of an inner monologue means an absence of *thought*. It’s just presumably a different style of thought, and none of us know how other people experience it.

5. Did you ever consider you might have undiagnosed ADHD? The hyperactive part can and frequently does apply to how you think. I’m also someone who has a strong internal monologue and is quite unorganized. I got diagnosed with it in my 30s.

6. I’ve had an inner monologue my whole life I’d say it perhaps makes me more focused and get things done I’d say it’s how you use it I’ve used it in situations to coach myself assess situations and act accordingly. Remember you control your mind don’t let your mind control you.

7. Nah I’d say I share all the personality stuff you mentioned but have basically no internal monologue.

8. Internal monologue: let get stuck on a thought loop for about sixteen hours 🤪

   eg why did x do y? because of z but z is because of y was done by x because of z…like a annoying song that you can’t get out of your head 😂

   Meditation or music to distract and then tell your internal monologue to reel it’s neck in 😂

   can’t beat a good old NI- FI thought loop 🤦‍♂️

   Don’t think those without an internal monologue are ‘more successful’ more like just get on with it and stuff up on the way vs plan it first and get it right but planning puts you a half a lap behind when you do start… evens out in the long run

9. Are you me?! Relating hard to this, especially the part about it being difficult to read, or concentrate, or work. Mine is a dialogue nearly all the time. Therapy made it worse, fml.

10. I have an inner monologue that sounds like tim curry

11. Dialogue City, here. INFP. Suspected ADHD. Total catch.

12. Oh the constantly jabbering inner voice. It never shuts up. It’s really exhausting. Sometimes it tells me jokes though and I laugh out loud. Most of the jokes are self-deprecating though. That might be something to discuss with my therapist.

13. My inner monologue is usually singing the same few lines of a random song over and over.

14. Edit: I wrote this before reading other comments, it’s refreshing seeing that other people suspected the same as me!

    I think neurodivergency plays a part here and autism. I’m autistic and incredibly artistic. I do psychedelic art and surrealism so everything I paint and sculpt isn’t real and purely comes from my imagination. I also love talking to myself in my head and even out loud sometimes.

    My friend on the other hand, is also autistic and she doesn’t see anything when she dreams. It’s just audio in her dreams, she can’t picture things if you ask her to, she doesn’t have a photographic memory and no internal monologue whatsoever.

    My friends who aren’t autistic who were in this conversation said they have an internal monologue but nowhere near to the extent that I do. They will have voices like “oh yeah you needed to pick up some milk today” but I have full blown conversations, arguments etc. The one friend with ADHD is also creative and can picture things when asked.

15. The field manager in my head need a foot up his arse so he shuts up for a moment as a person on the adhd asperger’s spectrum I find the noise in my head quite hard work at times.

16. I have a very active internal monologue like you describe, but I always ascribed it to growing up as an only child who is also a bit of an introvert. I’m not autistic or have ADHD, and I am super organised. I get distracted with my own thoughts sometimes, but it’s never prevented me from completed tasks/work.

17. My internal monologue is a curse. I’m in meetings or conversation, or trying to concentrate on something and it’s just going off about something unrelated, or it’s playing a song I listened to this morning, or it’s telling me about the shopping I need to do. Most of the time I can’t concentrate because I’ve got music playing in my head. So I just nod and agree with the other person and then leave the room wondering what we just talked about.

    When I’m alone, my monologue is telling me how shit I am and how miserable I should be. But then sometimes, it just goes off, and I’m kind of in this paralytic silence where my brain is entirely blank and I can’t think about anything at all.

18. I dunno if people with an internal monologue are more likely to develop anxiety issues? I have an internal monologue and at one point was diagnosed as having anxiety. Because of my internal monologue I can go over potential situations and conversations in my head too much and then get overly anxious about them because I imagine all the ways it could be awkward or go wrong.

19. Not only can I have an internal conversation with myself, I can also provide full music gigs as well.

    At this very moment in time, I have The Darkness, I Beleive In A Thing Called Love bouncing around.

    I’ve long been diagnosed with Dyspraxia. This is irrefutable – no spatial awareness, no hazard awareness, poor processing speed, and deeply attracted to door handles but I have been pondering as of late if perhaps I also have some other traits from further along the spectrum tree. I can definitely see the ADHD traits in there.

20. I mean I have a constant internal monologue and also relate to being very diplomatic and a worrier but I’m the opposite with organisation. I’m hyper-organised and I can focus really well. My monologue runs through every possible situation which helps with my organisation and preparedness. When I need to concentrate, my monologue is all focused on the task at hand, again running through the potential possibilities before I can even get to them.

    I’m not sure without a proper study we can really draw much evidence from a few anecdotes.

21. >diplomatic, caring, understanding, a bit of a worrier.

    I don’t have an internal monologue, and this could be a description of me. So doesn’t seem to be correlated with whether you have one or not.

    As another response says, not having an internal monologue doesn’t mean a clear head. My brain is still super full and whirring all the time. It just doesn’t do so via a ‘spoken’ monologue.

22. Maybe? My brother doesn’t have an internal monologue and ngl he’s terrible in group work discussions, having an active imagination and talking in meetings (when it’s his turn, he doesn’t seem to know exactly what to say). However, he’s pretty good at debating so I’m not too sure. As someone who has one, I’m an efficient communicator, empathetic and know how to change my language based on certain types of people.

    Although, all of these attributes are probably because I’ve worked in retail/catering before getting a big girl job lol. My brother went into an IT job at 18 and speaks to 3 people.

23. I’m still baffled every time I’m reminded some people don’t have internal monologue. Lucky, lucky bastards.

24. My thinking manifests itself more as snatches of ideas and emotions that i guess i kind of process and sift through.

    Occasionally i will think “i wonder” but that is usually said outloud and then my thinking goes back into it’s usual way.

    I personally think people without internal monologues (myself) tend to find it harder to communicate verbally.
    I am not a confident speaker and i think that’s because when i speak it’s a string of ideas which i turn into a sentence on the fly. Sometimes this is fine, but sometimes its hard and probably a bit hard to work with.

    I have recently moved from a job that was heavy on verbal communication back to a solitary thinking job, and i’m fucking loving it.

    I see myself as an introvert, and maybe that’s partly because i find it hard to communicate verbally and find it quite tiring… because i have to work harder in the absence of an internal monologue.

    So in answer to your question, maybe!

25. I also have an internal monologue, unfortunately it agrees with me that everyone is an arse and just needs to suck it up and shut up.

    So you are just a caring person, your inner thoughts are just proving it, they are not the reason.

26. I’m in a constant internal monologue, it only shuts up in times of intense relaxation or concentration.

27. I have an inner monologue too. All my thoughts are in verbal form. I didn’t realise that wasn’t universal until I talked to my husband, he thinks in pictures. He’s high functioning ASD (what used to be called Aspergers).

    I’m very organised, always busy and I work hard to get to where I want to be. I am intelligent, but that has taken me a while to admit because my inner voice is also very self critical. That voice tells me I am lazy and could always be doing more, being better. I’m constantly overthinking everything. It’s exhausting.

    And she never shuts up! I’m always thinking, always switched on. Even when I’m tired and trying to go to sleep my mind is on permanent autowitter. It’s very draining.

28. What? Some people don’t have internal monologues?

29. Theres no way there is two types of people here.. it will be a sliding scale, with complete overthinker/heavy monologue-ers at one end, and some other kinda weirdo at the other end

30. I’ve got an inner voice and am ADHD. Sometimes my inner voice becomes an outer voice and I mutter and talk to myself when I’m doing something, to the extent that the dog looks at me with her head cocked because she’s not sure if I’m talking to her. I’m not. I’m just talking.

    But I’m an author and it’s fabulous for working out dialogue! Other than that, my mother used to describe me as messy, scatty, disorganised etc, but I’ve managed to survive in life, holding down jobs successfully, never being late, keeping a clean and tidy house, raising my kids as a single mother, so I think that was more my mother’s perception of me than my actual personality.

31. This is regarding the voice in your head huh Yeah always it’s started getting louder and now I just voice what It says! 😆

32. My stepdaughter does this, in the hope that it will speed up her application to get more benefits. “I don’t want to work” from her at 25 has become self harm and believing in a group coming to take her to the US. Pure laziness. We know this as her ex boyfriend has video of her saying it’s all an act.

33. What makes you think that people without an inner monologue don’t get distracted by their thoughts? The crucial part is the fact that a thought’s in your head, not that it can be heard

34. This post has absolutely floored me. I’m astonished people don’t have an internal monologue. Mine is exhausting, i thought it was normal. I thought everyone had it.
    Reading the comments makes things make sense a bit, thinking back to when I was younger. Maybe I need testing.

35. Babes have you ever considered you might have ADHD?

36. Internal monologue all my life