When does obsessive talking to yourself become a real problem?!

[ally41]

I have this thing, I know everyone talks to themselves to some degree but I am getting disturbed by the fact that I sometimes 'have' to do it. It's like what i think isn't real unless I say it out loud so that someone else can hear/approve/agree even though I'm alone....Most days I have someone 'watching' me, either someone from the past or (hides face in embarrassment) a celebrity of some kind..(hides face again, I'm 38...). If I don't say it out loud, then this person can't hear it, as they cant hear my thoughts....P.S. did i mention that I do know that I'm alone and that I do know there's really no-one else listening....

It's really bugging me, sometimes i catch myself doing it and try not to, but it's a compulsion, I have to do it. I've been watching TV online a lot with my headphones in and if I have an opinion about something, I have to remove the headphones so that i can say it out loud and hear it, it driving me up the wall!!

Aargh!! I want to be able to keep my bloody mouth shut for once because if it becomes too much of a habit I find myself doing it in public and it's damn embarrassing! Any idea anyone? Share similar experiences?

 

[Mayfair]

Personally, I say try and find a balance. If you want to say it, then say it. I'm told to shut up so often (mostly jokingly) that I can go into total silence, and won't talk unless absolutely necessary for days. Neither is particulary considered by the majority as a 'norm'! lol.

Your comments about hiding embarrassment touched a nerve (in particular to your age) ...

 

[epic fale boy]

sorry for lol-ing but yep. lol.

i REALLY know what ya talkin about. I got so used to it, so comfortable with it there was a long period of time I freaked that I was doing it in public without being aware - If I had to go anywhere quiet, in public places I'd LITERALLY hold my tongue for hours at a time to make sure. think about the image for a second - in a meeting, or a class, or at a show, or in a shop.. and me holding my tongue in case I can't hear my self talking to myself out loud obsessivley... then trying to co-ordinate that with the times when I was EXPECTED to speak so then my tongue's all dry and my fingers all slimy and .. usually that'd be the point I'd leave.

daft innit.

So now i undercut the obsessive worry by laughing at myself for being an eejit but not (generally) freaking too much. Hell. When the invisible friends are taking the pee out of ya for talking to 'em then ya know yer ok. that's the way I try to deal wi it. After a bit of laughing at myself I stopped being quite so worried about the outside world (ok ok i walked away from the outside world.. but I don't mind that so much)