talking to oneself and mental illness?

[cha]

do you believe that sometimes talking to oneself can indeed be a manifestation of mental illness? It is said that some people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia may lose touch with reality and experience auditory hallucinations of voices. They feel compelled to respond to "their" voices and even carry on extensive conversations.

[pbernath]

Gee, I hope talking to our four cats doesn't qualify me for a straight-jacket.   Mu guess is that as long as I don't expect an answer it's okay.

[Vickiefitz]

If you are aware that you are talking to yourself then you probably don't have a problem.  If other people notice and you don't then you probably do.  It is often said that if you think you're crazy then you're not.

[amyg]

I think talking to oneself has different levels. I talk to myself sometimes, too. In the morning I look at myself in he mirror and say: “You need to have your haircut today.” I think most of us are talking to ourselves once in a while.

[dbt18]

 I don't think that just talking to yourself is a form of mental illness. Now if you are hearing voices and no one is there then you might have a problem. I tend to talk to myself when I have had a Very Very long day at work.  I have a dog that I talk to all the time to.

[MrDavid]

I talk to myself a lot. It helps me when I am involved with a detailed task that requires concentration.
Writing to blogs is a way of talking to myself as well.
I have no idea if the words will be read by another person out there in internet land. But I still try to write clearly and spell the words properly.

[Ron Balta]

 I talk to myself all day long when I am writing on the computer. I hope I don't have mental illness. Is this  fact or opinion.

[illytodd]

i talk to myself all the time.  i don't thinks it a sign of illness, sometimes i just like to hear myself talk.

[wandering flipflops]

Talking to yourself is just normal. Unless you do it all the time and if what you're saying is not related to what you are doing.  It's not normal if what you are saying is already out of the ordinary like when you say, "I'm God", or something.

[beenthere]

Speaking from experience( my brother has a mental illness), I guess it depends on the severity and type of "talking to ones self".  My brother for example, would turn is T.V. or radio up loud to drown out the "voices" he would here.  He would also be heard talking to himself and saying off the wall things as if he were talking to someone in the room with him.  He will start laughing for no apparent reason.  It's really sad to see a loved one suffer with this "Curse".  To them the voices are real, the images they see are real and don't even get me started on the long road of "treatment's".  Getting them help for this is one thing.  Getting them to TAKE their medication is the biggest issue. 

Just because you talk to yourself once in awhile though, I don't think would constitute being mentally ill.

[simran]

 When a person is talking itself  in his awareness,it is just a way of expressing his emotions to himself.We can not say that he is suffering from mental ill.Most of the people talk to itself.

[joedunn09]

I don't think "talking to oneself can indeed be a manifestation of mental illness." Like most everyone else that's posted so far, I too hope that it's not a sign of mental illness! Since I have mild bipolar though and talk to myself quite often, perhaps there is a relationship!! Perhaps I'm evidence to the fact...That aside, from my own vast personal experience with talking to myself, it usually ends up being the result of stress. Stress causes a person to feel like no one is listening or can understand the things you're going through. This leads to frustration and verbal outbursts or mumbles to oneself. I don't feel one should be concerned if this is how they define "talking to themselves." I do feel that one should be concerned if they hear distinct voices that are hostilely challenging your normal inner voice...

[pm2112]

Merely talking to yourself is not a sign of mental illness.  Some say you draw the line at answering yourself.  That is not a problem either.  It is when you start losing the arguments that you run into a real issue.

[bird]

Talking to oneself is very normal. Talking to "oneself" in response to visual or auditory stimuli is a sign of schizophrenia and/or other psychotic disorders.

[muskan]

Talking to oneself  may be normal or it may be a sign of a mental imbalance.Actually,it depends upon awareness and consciousness of human mind.I,too,talk to myself,sometimes in awareness and sometimes I emerge into my deep thought that it could be hard to come back in my real world.