Trapped in My Head

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Hello, I've just re-registered on this website under a different name. It's been a while since I've last been on, but I am back with some questions for those that may or may not experience the same things I have been experiencing nearly all of my life.

Ever since I can remember my mind has never been a silent place. Anything from internal dialogue or repeating words, phrases or sounds constantly plays in my mind. It's not as if I'm actually hearing them, though, instead it's just thoughts spoken aloud that I can hear -- but not hear at the same time. I guess you could say it's nothing like an auditory phenomena or hallucination. As of late it's been a constant repetition of song lyrics I find repulsing. It isn't anything like getting a song stuck in your head either. It's as if certain pieces of songs play over, and over, and over in my head. I had this problem very severely last year as well when I had to memorize a poem in French for school.

What I'm trying to say is, could it be some sort of voice I hear in my mind? I'd like to learn more about it so I can bring it to the attention of the neuro-psychologist I have to go see in a few months. It's beginning to bother me enough to the point of not being able to get my work done and it makes me zone out for hours. The only way I can drown it out is if I listen to music to counteract it.

I've been kinda like that my whole life. i thought it was a combination of me being an auditory thinker & having ADD.

It is known trait of ASD and other neurodiverse conditions to get fixated on words or phrases.
Intrusive thoughts also are common, this is also known as mind chatter in some circles such as those who
follow Buddhist Meditation.

Intrusive thoughts btw are very normal and in essence all people experience them to a lesser or greater degree.
One of my theories of the cause of this phenomena is caused by the poor sync'ing of the two halves of the brain.
In essence, having two sides of the brain makes us like two people, with an observer and another that comments.

If this is true (and i don't know if it is true, I am speculating), it could work like error correction as found in PC hard disc's for data etc. It could also work as a refining process, like having a party system in politics. Having more than one opinion forces the person to analyse the truth. But that may all be a load of complete rubbish i made up. so please dont take my word on that one.

In case you are interesting in therapy to reduce this mind chatter / intrusive thoughts.
You could consider mindfulness meditation, or body scan relaxation therapy, it is possible to get spoken words version of these that guide you. Not that expensive

need to do this every day however,
and ideally in a space that is low sensory, especially if you are hypersensitive as i am.

I wonder sometimes if the fixation on certain words found in autism is similar to tic's as found in tourette syndrome or even the involuntary spasms that occur in epilepsy, and episodes in schizophrenia.

I forgot to mention that some of it could also be due to OCD in my case. I found it got alittle better after I started OCD medication & OCD is a common comorbid with Aspergers & lots of Aspies also have at least a few symptoms of OCD.

A common trait in people diagnosed with ASD is the challenge to filter out irrelevant auditory sensory information received from outside.

Combine that with compulsive tendencies (relating to challenges with prefrontal executive control) to fixate with certain sounds/auditory frequencies related to sounds with regular tone/pitch and your phonological loop playing in your auditory cortex over rehearses those sounds/music into long term memory (this is an area I've found that's quite poorly researched).

Medication like alderall/ritalin can improve executive control over the ability to focus/concentrate or (better than medication) do mindfulness exercises that help you to develop some conscious self-control by diverting your focus elsewhere.

Brain/behavior self-training is a simple process to divert focus away from compulsive activities/thoughts/stimuli (e.g. sound) in the same way as acupuncture diverts pain from the source by pricking your nerves in particular meridian points.

Do they prescribe ritalin in the US for sensory issues.
In the UK, they do not give any medication at all for autism spectrum disorder, only SSRI's for anxiety,
and if aggression or violent behaviours also are present, perhaps anti-psychotics.

most doctors and psychiatrists will not even give low dose diazepam.
in the island that i live, because we are not connected to the main UK government or health service and the population small. the level of experience of the doctors are even less which means that people with this complex condition don't always receive the best treatment based on understanding and in some cases are left neglected.

You just described my whole existence since birth. Except the word fixations or names that echo in my mind usually have a psychic significance as strange as it sounds. I'll think of somebody for no particular reason and something dramatic or big will happen to them/involving them as shortly as the next day or even overnight. I've "predicted" celebrity deaths that shocked everybody and made headlining news and certain events. I know that sounds far-fetched and unbelievable, but sometimes I think our thoughts are for reasons.

I have. My head doesn't stop playing music, nor it just doesn't stop being plain noisy.
If it goes quiet... It rarely goes quiet and I won't notice it until it happened.


I think it's my toddler self's fault. I could clearly remember, favoring songs over plain words for a tone and pattern. Although my interest in music faded long ago, the patterns and the tones being played never stopped. But then for me, it might be for the best.


It's like chronic a stuck song syndrome, except it doesn't automatically give annoying or catchy songs. I can change and manipulate the ongoing songs' and voices' tones and patterns that is going on in my head -- clearly not a hallucination.
This is clearly not a form of simply hearing things constantly, but like a constant recall.
More like at it's worst a mental composer that just doesn't stop being a mental encumbrance, as it eats up my part of processing capacity power.

And yes, music can drown it off or stave off the weight of having to involuntarily compose things ongoing, but it can only go as far as make it less noticable or annoying. It doesn't make it mentally mute or no longer on going.

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I have this too, I’m amazed when ppl say they don’t have it it’s like there’s an endless stream of undercurrent though going on constantly and it is relentless with ideas that sometimes get stuck in a loop esp if emotion is connected to the thoughts. I just don’t understand ppl who seem to be going about their day happily on the surface level and when u ask them what they r thinking about they say thinks like “what I’m going to wear or where I’m going on holidays etc”. I think maybe ear plugs might help because sometimes when my brain has noise it can’t properly distinguish it sort of imaginatively fills the gaps because it is searching for info which it can’t grab....
But the one thing that does help is hypnosis just those u tube ones that help u sleep it cuts the background noise for some reason not at first it took a month or so to work and some are better than others but definitely gave me peace for a while..