Living Without an Inner Voice: The Unheard Mind

Only when Mel May read a news article did she realize she was different.

She wondered, 'What? Do some individuals actually hear voices in their minds?'

She was amazed to realize that what she thought was merely an expression — her friends were really engaging in internal conversations with themselves.

May, a 30-year-old Australian video producer residing in New York, recalls attempting to clarify for her relatives: "I don’t hear voices inside my head."

"She said her father responded with, 'You are not telling the truth,'" she recounted to .

However, when May began collaborating with psychologists, they concurred — her case is extremely unusual as she lacks internal dialogue.

The concept that certain individuals may not encounter this effect is so novel that a medical term, anendophasia, was just suggested for it in a study published recently.

Studying the internal dialogue has been particularly challenging due to our reliance on individuals describing their thoughts, which surprisingly enough, we tend not to do accurately.

"Individuals lack awareness of their internal experiences," stated Russell Hurlburt, a psychology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"It makes no difference how assured you might be," noted Hurlburt, a trailblazer in the area who has researched individuals with various internal experiences, such as May.

Many believe their internal dialogue is constantly active; however, it is merely one aspect of our mental experiences, according to Hurlburt.

Other elements encompass visual images, unarticulated thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception.

- Just a quarter of the time?

To investigate these phenomena, Hurlburt carried out research where a beeper sounded randomly as participants read Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," prompting them to describe their thoughts.

Instead of voicing out the words internally, they were forming visual pictures — “their very own videos” — of the book, he explained.

Individuals exhibit various forms of internal dialogue. Some experience several distinct voices, whereas those who are bilingual might alternate between languages.

Giordon Stark, a particle physicist based in California who was born deaf, experiences a blend of internal dialogue and mental visuals.

"The term 'bed' doesn’t pop into my mind; instead, I picture myself lowering onto a pillow," the 34-year-old explained, noting this mirrors the sign language gesture for the word.

Hurlburt stressed that when trying to gauge how frequently individuals perceive an internal dialogue, significantly more investigation is required in this area.

However, a rough estimate might be that individuals are silently talking to themselves about 20 to 25 percent of the time, he mentioned.

This average encompasses individuals who speak much more frequently as well as those like May, who do not speak at all.

"Hers is an internal world nearly devoid of content; however, she stands as an outlier rather than the norm," Hurlburt stated.

Helene Loevenbruck, a prominent researcher of inner voices from France’s Universite Grenoble Alpes, has been compelled to revise her opinion on whether individuals like May can actually exist.

"Until quite recently, I believed that everybody possessed an internal dialogue," she shared with .

Her new concept contradicted her earlier research, indicating that internal speech played a crucial role in vocalizing thoughts aloud, acting like an "inner rehearsal".

However, the research conducted by Hurlburt — along with the finding that certain individuals lack the ability to conjure up mental imagery, known as aphantasia — altered her perspective.

- 'The advantages and disadvantages' -

May thinks that her absence of an internal dialogue is the reason she has never experienced anxiety, and this also makes meditation quite simple for her.

Daniel Gregory, a philosopher who specializes in internal dialogue at the University of Barcelona, pointed out that one possible downside of increased inner speech could be "an enhanced susceptibility to negative thinking loops and brooding."

However, we can utilise internal dialogue to motivate ourselves and provide positive affirmations, as he mentioned to .

May mentioned that a typical reaction when people hear she doesn’t have an internal dialogue usually goes like this: “Wow, that must be incredible.”

She stated, 'I tend to be quite swift in disagreeing with that notion since I believe there are both advantages and disadvantages.'

I often think deeply about which parts of everyday life I am not experiencing.

In addition to not worrying about what’s ahead, May struggles with recollecting her past experiences.

Loevenbruck mentioned that individuals with aphantasia described their personal recollections as "unusual," since they lack the ability to experience these memories through sensory means.

May stressed that her inability to hear an internal dialogue didn’t imply she was unable to think.

"I may not be emotionally numb. I have knowledge and emotions," stated May, who intends to create a documentary about her journey.

When asked about her thoughts at the time, she replied succinctly.

I find myself just naturally responding as I sit here and listen to you. That's all.

Don't you think that’s how it goes for everybody?

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