Is it normal to talk to yourself?

Dig into the psychological benefits of positive self-talk, and find out when it can become problematic.

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Being caught talking to yourself can feel embarrassing, and some people even stigmatize this behavior as a sign of mental instability. But decades of research show that talking to yourself is completely normal; most if not all of us engage in some form of self-talk every day. So why do we talk to ourselves? And does what we say matter? Dig into the psychological benefits of positive self-talk.

Directed by Avi Ofer.

This video made possible in collaboration with Character Lab

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[Kenny_F]

Remember: if you talk to yourself outloud people think you're crazy. But talk to yourself on camera, you can be a youtuber.

[ZOCCOK]

When I am alone, I like to act like a psychiatrist who is giving advice to myself.
As a psychiatrist, I am very terrified of how unstable my only client is.

[Yousoro]

Sometimes I talk to myself,
just to hear what a real one gotta say.

[austindurham]

Sometimes, the best conversations are the ones I've had with myself.

[charliemaybe]

I can talk to my self for an hour straight just pacing around a room.

[rohanmohan]

Ok Let's Check If I'm Normal Or Mentally Ill.

[IadaptsStencel]

Regarding negative self talk, there's this phrase that has helped me so much: "you would never talk to your friend like that, so don't do that to yourself. You're your best friend, treat yourself accordingly". We are so compassionate and caring and loving with those around us but forget to act that way with ourselves

[younes]

I use a method for selftalk in order not to look strange and weird in public i use my earphones and i pretend talking with someone on the phone with a little of hand moves, this will make you more confortable with selftalk anytime and anywhere

[acardinalconsideration]

I’m convinced that if most people took the time to regularly have genuine, thorough conversations with themselves, this world would be a *far* better place.

[llia]

It feels good to know that you're normal, doing a complete normal thing which people sadly perceive wrong.

[chauswriting]

I've talked to myself since I was 10 and I never told anyone in my life about this thinking they'd see me as a crazy person. Thank you for the validation!

[susannaalexanyan]

When I was a child talking to myself was very natural and normal for me. Growing up, it started becoming more and more abnormal and strange because of public opinion. Silent self-talks are very common activities of mine, and the question of it being normal interested me for a while. Video is very helpful and knowing that most of the people have self-talks is really helpful!

[sindhusingh]

self talk provides calmness to me.... it's like telling myself about my own problems finding solution and applauding for myself when no-one else do✨

[SKoGoMoney]

I’ll tell you what, my uncle used to always talk out loud and play out potential scenarios, thinking ahead. I once asked him (as a kid) “why do you talk to yourself?” His reply was genius… “Because it’s the only way to have an intelligent conversation!” I’ve used that line ever since! 😂

[jaywhy]

"Thinking out loud" as I prefer to call it, helps me drown out the noisy voices in my head. Not *those* kind of voices, but self talk in my head has a `mind` of it's own - thinking out loud is especially useful when I'm trying to solve a challenging problem. The self talk in my head isn't necessarily trying to solve the same problem. For extra help working through a problem, I not only think out loud, but pacing also helps. (I don't tend to do either of these strategies when other people are around! I understand it looks/sounds unusual to some people.)

[kxvneql]

I've found myself talking to me several times during the day, most of the time feels like my brain it's talking to my heart, and sometimes it's my heart talking to my brain. I can feel the difference between this two speakers, both of them are wonderful and they try to lift me up, sometimes I need compassion and that's when my heart talks to my brain to cheer me up, and sometimes I need to be grounded and that's when my brain talks to my heart, so my feelings stay stable.
I love to talk to myself, because I have such interesting conversations.

[nairasalah]

I never get bored of talking to myself, even though if someone were to caught me talking to myself I’d be embarrassed, but the lesson taught from this video is that it’s completely normal and I should embrace it

[joelkirkpatrick]

"The way you treat [people] is what they become" Such a good quote. How you treat people matters immensely.

[mariaeduardadias]

I'm passionate about talking to myself in front of mirror, it is such a stranger and comforting experience. What's more, it help me so much in the process of learn a foreign language! I have often spending my whole day in a self-talk in english and it is helping me to getting confidence and familiarity to the language.
I love talk to myself. I love my own company!

[namquanthieu]

Really needed this video since everyone around me was calling me crazy for self-talking