What Is an Inner Monologue?

Meditation and mindfulness may help improve longevity and reduce the chance of developing cancer by increasing the length of telomeres. Shutterstock

According to research, between 30 to 50 percent of people experience an internal conversation with themselves, otherwise known as an internal monologue.

So what is an inner monologue?

It’s a voice inside your head that is partially caused by corollary discharge. This is a signal in the brain distinguishing between external and internal stimuli.

Helene Brenner, psychologist and creator of the My Inner Voice app, told Well and Good that inner speech is a by-product of the brain.

“Inner speech is the product of the default mode network or DMN,” Dr. Brenner said.

“It’s a network of different areas of the brain that become very active, all together, when we’re not engaged in doing anything task-oriented—when we’re just thinking or daydreaming. It turns out that it never fully stops either—it just gets suppressed the busier and more actively engaged we get.

“The default mode network is what produces that whole running narrative in your head—all the things you think about, connecting your past to your present and thinking about the future, all of your opinions and self-comparisons,” Dr. Brenner says.

Voice a Part of Language Development

The voice begins in childhood, and as we develop our skills in language, we also learn to internalise. As an adult, internalising assists with memory.

According to Inner Monologue Statistics and Trends in 2023 by Gitnux Market Data, 58 percent of people experience a voice as an internal conversation indicating a dialogue between the conscious and subconscious mind. The dialogue can be from a variety of voices, with 20 percent of people having a female inner voice.

This voice can take the personality of the faithful friend; the ambivalent parent; the proud rival; and the helpless child, according to a study by Malgorzata Puchalska-Wasyl, a psychologist at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. The study showed that the voices swap their roles depending on the situation.

In teenagers, around 20 percent of the time, this self-talk is equivalent to self-criticism, which is why it is important to understand the inner voice in order to equip teenagers with the tools to combat negative self-criticism.

One large-scale study showed that an internal critical voice was linked to an increased risk of mental health problems, including neurosis, depression, and anxiety.

There are a number of ways to minimise the negative inner monologue, according to the Well Mind’s Elizabeth Scott. These include giving that negative voice a name, catching yourself when you have a negative internal conversation, and changing this from something such as, “I hate,” to “I find this challenging.”

Saying the thought aloud to make you more aware that this is negative self-talk or thinking like a friend who builds you up, not brings you down, are also ways of dealing with a negative monologue.

Quiet Space

Those who don’t have an inner monologue will find there is no dialogue inside their head. While it might be present occasionally for some, for others, their mind is quiet.

Joni Ogle, LCSW, CSAT, a licensed clinical social worker, explains to Bustle magazine that “it can feel like you aren’t thinking about anything.”

Information is absorbed without concrete thoughts. If you have no inner monologue, you just execute your next move without any mental planning.

The reason some may not have an inner monologue is due to personality and brain structure. They may have anauralia, which means the lack of auditory imagery, or they may also have aphantasia, which is the inability to create mental imagery. The opposite of this is hyperphantasia which describes someone with very vivid mental imagery.

“People who have inner monologues may also be more [naturally] reflective, as they can consciously observe and examine their thoughts thoroughly,” Ms. Ogle said.

So is it better to have an inner monologue or not?

A 2018 study shows that if you have an internal monologue, you’re more likely to be able to organise your thoughts and propel them into actions; you have stronger critical thinking skills, are more likely to learn from past experiences and are able to express yourself more fluidly.

However, those without an inner monologue find it easier to stay in the present; may have unique ways of problem-solving; may have higher confidence because of a lack of negative self-talk; and can master a foreign language more easily.

If you don’t currently have an inner monologue, it is possible to develop one through activities such as active listening, daily journaling, meditating, and praying.