Does talking to yourself mean you’re mentally unwell

Hi @Delicatessen

Hope you are having ag good day...

...talking to yourself. I do it. I do it inboth a controlled and uncontrolled way. Let me tell you why i do it and what i have experienced and it may offer you some insight.

i live in my head. My brain is very active and this can be both a blessing and a curse. I constantly think of what i want to say, whay i would have liked to say, and about how i feel about said thoughts.

I have noticed that in the last 4 or so years, when a though gets a bit morose or i recognise that i have thinking something unhealthy, i loudly teel the thought to 'f*ck off'.

This used to be inside my mind but now i do it out loud. To anyone watching (i am always alone) ...i am sitting there quitely, then in an animated way, exclamate the F.U. out loud, in various levewls of energy. This would seem quite odd witnessed by others...

...but i dont think it is odd. I actually think it is a bit of a coping mechanism where i have developed a way to stifle negative thought patterns, but alsomake a real world gesture to prevent those thoughts.

Maybe, just maybe you speak to yourself for similar reasons. Maybe you know that when you talk with yourself, youalways know someone is listening. Someone - who loves you.

Noone knows ourselves bettwer that ourselves, and if you need to hear things from a trusted source then talk aout loud. Scream and yell it if needed, though it may alarm aothers lol

seriously, if this is something you do and it helps and doesnt hurt anyone then is it really a bad idea?

DO NOT care about how others percieive it. Let them make their own choices. You do you.

As long as you are aware of when you are doing it (most times i am within me) then it is ok.

Dont let society judge you. If society had all the answers then there wouldnt be so many with mental health issues... so i feel its ok to challenge 'norms'

I hope this helps a bit and gives you some insight and it reminds me of a joke woody allen once made that refers to self love (using masterbarbation as a gimic), if its not too crude i will share it with you... Woody said:

'dont knock materbation, its having sex with someone you love!' :0)

From my opinion @Delicatessen ? NO.

I 'talk to myself' all the time. It do it without even having second thoughts. Why? Because it's positive self-talk that has kept me going in life.

I used to have to tell myself to do it, but now, I'm always doing it... for me to do this, it's because I know it works and it is healthy for me. Does it mean I'm mentally unwell? I don't think so. I manage very well in life.

If people group talking to yourself and mentally ill together.. then maybe most people are mentally ill? What do you think?

You are lucky to have such a good doctor around. For as long as I can remember I have ad psychologists and doctors ask me if I talk to myself and subsequently assume that I am hearing voices.

Re original post

I've been thinking about my level of talking to myself recently too. I live alone when I'm not parenting and I talk to myself a bit. Sometimes I find myself talking in public, like a muttering if I think I'm alone but sometimes ppl appear who I hadn't seen. I liked two comments on this thread, at least we are talking to someone who is listening and who cares what others think of me. They're helping me realise it doesn't matter if I talk to myself a bit

Hi @Delicatessen

Nah, most of the time you realise there's nobody else worth talking to. It's a bit arrogant but also you realise so many other people have problems you are better off just dealing with what's inside your own head. I have talked to myself before, often when coming off medication and usually when frustrated.