Charles Fernyhough

Don't kind of process this like you'd process somebody else speaking because it's just you.

And the idea is that in the case of voice hearing, that message doesn't get through in the same way.

It's delayed or it's degraded or it doesn't happen at all.

Yeah, pretty much, yeah.

The work that Russ has done and the work that I've done with him has made it really obvious to me that some people don't use inner speech very much.

Maybe some never use it at all.

They do other things.

They use images.

They use music.

They use emotions.

They use all the other stuff that's going on in your head.

It's also made it obvious to me that we're really bad at judging what's going on in our heads.

I'd like to celebrate the diversity of human minds.

I think we are so different

I think it's wonderful that there is this diversity and we can celebrate that diversity.

I wouldn't ever want to set out and say to people that they should improve their inner speech.

But what I would say is that sometimes inner speech can have a negative side.

And if your inner speech is bothering you, if it's excessively critical, it can be wrapped up in all kinds of stuff that isn't particularly good for your mental health.

And I'd say if that's bothering you, there are maybe things that you can do to rethink it.

And if people have any concerns or want to know more about hearing voices, we have a website called understandingvoices.com where you'll find a whole bunch of different kinds of information about voice hearing, including how people make sense of voice hearing, what people do to seek help for voice hearing, and so on.