Would you consider it healthy to talk to your subconscious?
I'm having a hard time wording any of this, so I apologize if this is rambly, badly titled, and especially if it's not qualifying quality
Most people occasionally talk to themselves, I'm sure, and I've seen cases on reddit where people develop different personalities to talk to (tulpas mainly). But what I'm talking about doesn't feel like the same thing as that. I remember reading this article in school about this debate in psychology, it was suggested that what we consider us, isn't the only one there. There's this instinctual 'black box' thing there that also has a say in the matter, but we never know its there (unless things go wrong)
Then I found out about when some patients are given a corpus callosotomy (that thing where they cut the wire between the two halves of the brain) they begin to exhibit some strange behaviors that are completely out of their control. But that isn't even the whole story because technically all they lost was the ability to rationalize what their "alien hand" was doing. If the hemispheres weren't split, they'd have still moved their hand but they would know exactly why, and wouldn't be freaked out by it.
Long story short, I grew up with the impression that "me" is some wacky tag team of consciousness. Whenever I remember something out of the blue, or whenever I improvise some answer in college, or even when I notice myself eyeing up the fridge more than usual; I'll actually 'have a little chat' with myself in my head. Sometimes it's pure amazement and praise, other times its reminders to be disciplined. Nothing is ever said back, obviously, I'd be worried something was.
I'm not even sure why I made this post. I suppose I'm just curious if any of this had the potential to backfire (negative feedback loop) or be a harmful way of thinking, as well as hear your thoughts on subconsciousness.
I don't think it's harmful at all to recognize why/what your mind is doing. But it is important to be careful as to not jump to conclusions or make harmful decisions as a result of this process.
'Alien hand syndrome' has long fascinated me, and although some people think that it implies that there's a dual consciousness effect going on within the brain, I would doubt that, or at least, doubt that it is in any way an intelligent consciousness, due to the fact that there's not a large change in perception of consciousness, aside from the loss of agency of the hand, and that the hand only exhibits random behavior, rather than some sort of attempt at communication.
Finally, Tulpas have interested me for a while now, but I doubt that's actually a separate consciousness as well. My theory is that it is more likely some sort of trained automatic response through hypnosis. This is because almost all guides to creating a Tulpa require describing what you believe the Tulpa is, and then continually meditating while imagining that the Tulpa is there, which seems very similar to hypnosis (going into a suggestible state and then imagining something to be true).
My understanding was that there's actually more to split brain cases than just "alien hand syndrome" -- the sides of the brain can communicate independently if they're given different sensory input. One experimental example is someone being shown the word "pan" such that only his left eye can see it. He can't name the word the "pan," and in fact he says he didn't see any word at all. But if he closes his eyes, his left hand draws a pan. It's pretty interesting; the Nature article where I found that video goes into a lot more detail.
That's really interesting, from the article I'm still convinced that the other side of the split brain isn't exactly conscious. Instead, it performs certain data-related and automatic functions within the mind. When the brains are connected these functions are managed by the main side of the brain, but when split, it essentially does these tasks without any guidance. I think the fact that split brain patients have difficulty learning new bi-manual tasks, but have an easy time performing bi-manual tasks that they know well is proof of this.
I think some people just think in terms of spoken language so an inner dialogue is inevitable. Others just have no inner voice and I guess think in thoughts? idk no idea how that would work, I'm part of the former. Even as I type this I've got a monologue going that's a fraction of a second quicker than what's getting typed, sounding out each long or unusual word. Yeah it's slow but necessary if I want halfway decent spelling.
I have found that as I pick up phrases or speech mannerisms I will sometimes subvocalize or think them when it appropriate. Most recently I worked in an environment where cursing was pretty common and picked up the various curse phrases. It took me a good few months to stop myself subvocalizing/thinking these default responses when I had left.
So I guess the only instances of a dialogue separate form just normal thinking would be when there is default phrase I would say in that situation. It's almost like a muscle memory response.
I have the same inner monologue, although I don't find that it inhibits my typing speed or is in any way slow. I've tried thinking without an inner monologue and although it's possible, it's difficult and seems very limiting. There was an interesting thread earlier about Aphantasia (the inability to think using pictures) and it seems similar to that, and I feel like it would limit the ability to think with complex thoughts.
Yeah I think it just need to practice my typing speed. I've had situation where I'm working on a problem and I just kind of get a feeling that I have the solution not visualised or anything – almost in every case it was just bullshit and not properly though out, with no way to actualise it. Can't imagine trying to figure stuff out without being able to visualise.
I think I know exactly what you're talking about.
Actually, I may be taking it a step further, but I rarely feel like there is a 'me.' Or rather, 'me,' doesn't matter in the face of some 'we' figures. Whenever I need to make a decision, it feels like I'm constantly switching between different kinds of people each trying to convince each other which way things should go. Like a bunch of different perspectives are trying to come together at once. It actually feels like different 'things' playing politics half the time. Like my mind is just made up of different characters in the same story.
Sometimes, I'll laugh at myself and say something like 'we're just going insane' but at the same time, I know it's not totally normal to think this way - like I need to corral different aspects of my mind for things to just make sense. At the same time though, 'we' take care of ourselves. If I'm hurting, it feels like I'm being comforted by things that aren't there. And if there is something I know a particular 'me' can't do, I know another one can. So even if something is hard, 'we' still get by at the end of the day.
I don't know if it's healthy or not, but I also don't care. I know I'm a mess mentally. A little psychosis wouldn't be surprising. But at the same time, it would genuinely hurt to lose an 'us' that I've had for so long. So I don't talk about it too much, besides behind anonymous internet accounts.
Just as far as talking to yourself, no, it's not weird. One of my classmates played a ted talk during a presentation and it basically said ~70% of the population is more vision-oriented, ~30% was more hearing-oriented, and ~5% was touch-oriented. TEDx talks aren't the most reliable sources to be sure but if that one is to be believed, the 30% listeners tend to talk to themselves quite a bit.
I don't think this is a problem. I read not too long ago that most people have a running inner monologue that they 'subvocalize' - they make the throat movements don't actually speak. When you're trying to make a decision on a complex topic we always say we are 'debating' it, so I think this is more common than you might think.
There's another old maxim that states that if you are sane enough to question your sanity, you are probably not insane. If you really think it's harmful, or if you notice that it's leading to you making antisocial behaviors (if people start looking funny at you, basically), you might want to consider consulting a psychiatrist.