The Mirror has an article about people that talk to themselves.
Talking to yourself out loud is not a sign of madness but could indicate a high level of intelligence, a study revealed.
Those who speak to themselves while focusing on a task do better than those who stay quiet, experts at Bangor University found.
Psychologists at the university gave 28 people a set of written instructions and asked them to read them either silently or out loud before measuring their concentration and performance.
They found when people read instructions out loud, their brains absord more of the material than if they only use their inner dialogue.
Have done so myself throughout my professonal programming life. Helps slow thinking down, which helps write programs.
I talk to inanimate objects (namely photocopiers, golf clubs etc) like they were a person sometimes, usually when something is going wrong and I want something to blame. Does that count?
What was most interesting to me was that 3 of the people featured, who you would describe as schizophrenics, each held down jobs - some in very responsible roles.
That said, one of the people they followed - David from Winchester (Oxford-educated PhD.) struggles with voices and hallucinations. He was filmed sitting in the Wykeham arms talking to a therapist when he stopped mid-sentence and stared at an empty chair in abject terror. It turned out that he could see an 18-inch lobster-type monster (clue - it wasnāt there) - a common theme in his hallucinations.
Some of those studied ābefriendā their voices; turning them from malevolent forces that bid them evil, into kindly āfriendsā that look out for them and their needs. We see one woman thank one of the (one hundred) voices in her head for reminding her to leave her daughter some dinner money. Lol. She then went to work and gave a lecture to 50 people before jetting off to direct some event in the US.
The ācauseā of these psychotic episodes isnāt always clear but a common link is a deficit of Dopamine in the brain. Abuse early in life was also a common factor for the people they spoke to. These voices are often just trying to steer the host away from danger.
Itās amazing that these people, that I feel so grateful to be so distant from, are exactly the same as me but with a deficit of a specific chemical.
Lifeās a lottery, eh?
Iām also currently reading The man who Mistook his Wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks and I am really enjoying it. Sacks wrote the book Awakenings upon which the Robin Williams film was based, and again L-Dopa (forms Dopamine) was the trigger for dormant patients to (temporarily) come back to ālifeā.
I have been having arguments with the female sat nav voice in my car, she keeps saying turning around now! Weāve been to counselling and I think itāll work out
What was most interesting to me was that 3 of the people featured, who you would describe as blacks, each held down jobs - some in very responsible roles.
That said, one of the people they followed - David from Winchester (Oxford-educated PhD.) struggles with voices and hallucinations. He was filmed sitting in the Wykeham arms talking to a therapist when he stopped mid-sentence and stared at an empty chair in abject terror. It turned out that he could see an 18-inch lobster-type monster (clue - it wasnāt there) - a common theme in his hallucinations.
Some of those studied ābefriendā their voices; turning them from malevolent forces that bid them evil, into kindly āfriendsā that look out for them and their needs. We see one woman thank one of the (one hundred) voices in her head for reminding her to leave her daughter some dinner money. Lol. She then went to work and gave a lecture to 50 people before jetting off to direct some event in the US.
The ācauseā of these psychotic episodes isnāt always clear but a common link is a deficit of Dopamine in the brain. Abuse early in life was also a common factor for the people they spoke to. These voices are often just trying to steer the host away from danger.
Itās amazing that these people, that I feel so grateful to be so distant from, are exactly the same as me but with a deficit of a specific chemical.
Lifeās a lottery, eh?
Iām also currently reading The man who Mistook his Wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks and I am really enjoying it. Sacks wrote the book Awakenings upon which the Robin Williams film was based, and again L-Dopa (forms Dopamine) was the trigger for dormant patients to (temporarily) come back to ālifeā.
