Conversations with others inside your head?

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This is related to an ASD?

I just did this less than 10 minutes ago. I never speak of it out loud, though. Usually it's with people I've seen but never met.

I have conversations as preparation or "rehearsal", as well as conversations just for enjoyment. One time I was at work and on the verge of having am emotional break-down. I ended up getting through it by imagining a conversation with a good friend of mine. When I go for a hike through the park I often have a conversation with this same friend (who now lives clear across the ocean).

I meant to add that, although I don't speak out loud, I will smile in response to something my friend says in my imaginary conversation with him.

i have internal conversations with people all the time. some of it is practice, some of it is me having imaginary conversations with people i know i can never have these conversations with in real life but really want to and sometimes its me talking to other aspects of myself. if no one is at home i do it out loud.

Yes, this is how I feel as well. I think talking to yourself in your head, even if it is YOU responding to yourself, is normal. It is when OTHERS talk back with something that you are not really controlling that is problematic (and schizophrenic).


Now directed to the thread in general:

Taking the question at face value (speaking to others in my mind), the answer for me is: absolutely not. I am the only one I know of in there. I do sometimes talk to myself mentally though, but that wasn't what the question asked.

***EDIT: After reading all these responses here and everyone talking about rehearsing, I realize I might have taken the question literally word for word. When you ask if there is a conversation with others in my head, I take that to mean that to mean: is there a reciprocal conversation in your head between me and someone who is not me. That would be the literal version of the question--and something that never happens with me. Maybe your intention was, even though the question does not literally imply this: do you rehearse conversations with others inside your head?? If THAT is the question, then I do do that sometimes even though it is very difficult since I never know what the other person is really going to say.***

I do this as well and I think I could be schizophrenic. I do, however know the people that I'm having conversations with and it's not like they're answering something that I'm not thinking, but I mean, is it normal that I go through long cycles of not really doing anything all day but pacing around and repetitively imagining myself talking to others in certain situations?

Last edited by Zexion on 20 Jul 2011, 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yup, I do that. It helps me figure out what I'm going to say.

Sometimes I also imagine typing things out rather than saying them. That seems to help me figure out what to say.

You can always tell if I'm trying very hard to communicate because I drop all attempts at colloquialisms and speak in a very formal manner.

Oh I'm always doing this, except I don't speak it out loud. But I do give off facial expressions, body language, and miming, as though I'm doing it with a real person. But I am just always having conversations in my head. It's like I'm always imagining somebody walking along with me, who's exactly like me, but it's not an imaginary friend, since there's no name nor made-up image of her. It's just a nobody (but I imagine it as a girl). But it does help me get through the day, having this ''person'' to help guide me through the day. I don't think it's crazy. I bet lots of people have this. I mean, you don't know what people are thinking in their heads. I seem to think in words and not images, so this is probably why I'm always chattering away in my head. I've even had an argument in my head before!