Imaginary Conversations?

Does anyone else do this? I have this embarrassing habit, I know this sounds funny but I'll be walking around my house, having full blown conversations with people who I feel like are there, it could be someone I know or some random person. I just have this sense or feeling that somebody's there. I'll be looking at a chair or the couch where I "see" them and look like I'm actually seeing something. It's kind of awkward if someone comes home and sees me walking around the room talking and laughing. I think this started when I was younger, I used to feel like someone was always there and people followed me even though I didn't talk to them then. It's weird because even when I'm not talking to them I still in my mind feel like someone's there. I'm not sure how to stop this, I've tried for a number of years, I'm always afraid somebody's going to see me doing this. Even when I have nothing to talk or can't talk I still feel like someone's there watching me wherever I am and I have to talk to them when they're staring at me. Even when I get myself to stop having conversations with them, in my mind they're still there and follow me. I'm not sure why I feel like that.

Hi Blue Bird ~ I used to do this when I was upset with someone. I would have these conversations, pretending what I would say to them if they were there. I know it's different from what you're describing, but in a way it's similar. A couple of times I got caught doing it, and I felt like a fool.

My friend, I think you should have your doctor refer you to a good therapist. I don't think you're crazy or anything -- don't get THAT idea, for heavens sakes! I just think that, like many of us, you may have some issues that are coming out this way. Many of us have things that are bothering us, but they manifest themselves in strange ways -- ways that sometimes we have no control over or that we don't understand. This may have to do with some issue you have that you don't even KNOW about!

So have your doctor refer you to a therapist. I'm sure the therapist can help you deal with this and probably get rid of. I wish you the very best, my friend. God bless and please take care! Hugs, Lee

Im always having conversations with myself. my treatment providers say my doing this is completely normal...children learn very young from their parents how to do things like play pretend, use their imagination, pretend you are talking to someone else...in elementary schools teachers also teach things that promote talking to one self like problem solving, thinking/talking a problem through, even with mental health providers theres many different therapy techniques that involve a person journaling/talking aloud/ looking in a mirror and talking to your self/your image, cognative behavior therapy teaches a person to think and work out problems verbally with their self and their treatment providers.. treatment providers also consider it things like getting in touch with your child with in, and having a logical mind/conscience and many other things too..

my collge psych professors also say that having a thinking mind where we can debate the pros and cons and have conversations with ourselves may be what sets humans a part from other species..in a good way...it is through the logical mind that humans are able to evolve into what they are today..I also found out in collge psych classes you looking at a chair or couch and imagining someone is there and talking to them... thats actually a therapy technique used with people who have relationship problems, have been abused and other things...here at the crisis center where I work we use this therapy technique both for preparing victims for their court hearings, preparing them for their confrontations with their abusers or just a way for them to express their self in healthy ways instead of bottling up their thoughts and emotions.

I also see by your profile you have depression/anxiety/panic issues....with many of those we treat and with my own mental disorders of depression/anxiety/bipolar disorder/PTSD/ dissociative issues this kind of thing does happen as part of having these kinds of mental disorders.

my suggestion if this continues to bother you contact a medical doctor or mental health professional in your off line location... they can tell you if this is something you need treatment for or is completely normal for you to do.

Thank you Leed and amandalouis I just recently started seeing a new therapist. I can see how it would be a good skill, therapy for some people but it's something really disruptive in my life, I am going to try to bring it up with them sometime soon, I was afraid to before because I didn't know if they'd understand it, but I'm glad to see that they would most likely.

Maybe they have some advice as to why I feel like people are there around me when they're not in reality. The talking to myself or talking to people who aren't there is two fold, it helps me through some things in my life but it started for no reason from just having a kind of weird sense that someone's in the room with me. I have gone weeks without doing it but even then I still feel like someone's there and that I have to talk to them, as if a real person was standing there I wouldn't just ignore them. I will try to talk to my therapist about it once I figure out a good way to bring it up.

i wouldn't say i do this, no.

i've talked to my voices in the past, but that's not really the same thing- and i don't really do that either now

I've been doing the same since my childhood. I think it's just a way you cope with things in your life. It signifies that something's not OK (in my case that I don't have enough people around me that I can talk to), but I also think it is (or can be used as) some sort of self-therapy. I try to use it as a way to practice building my self-esteem.

hmmm, thought I responded to this. Guess I didn't.

Blue Bird, I have conversations with myself. I don't think it's uncommon. I find myself doing it the most when either I have a problem I need to solve and talking it out helps me find the solution or if I've done something stupid and am chatising myself.

I have this same behaviour. It's a stress reliever for me. Now, I call it "talk therapy"(rant sometimes).

At home, my bird Buddy gets talked to and Buddy would enjoy it if I talked to Buddy all day.

I've actually had this before. Like there's a topic that I would love to discuss and I imagine that there's an audience right in front of me and I'll keep yapping. Even though I know people aren't there, I still manage to continue and talk.

speaking of talking to oneself, my mean third grade teacher thought that I was talking to myself when I was talking to my neighbor. My neighbor would not defend me and I was pissed because if he had spoken up for me, she would at least know that I'm not crazy and that I was doing nothing unusual.

I do this all the time. Literally every day just about. When I was younger it was only when something was REALLY bothering me. Or if I really wanted to tell someone off, but I'm too much of a passive aggressive person to do it to their face.

But recently, whenever I find myself alone I'll do it involuntarily. More recently, I've even started doing this when I'm not alone. I'm one of THOSE people that you see walking down the street talking to themselves. It's actually a little shattering when I realize I've been doing it and not realizing it.

I know I made this thread awhile back, but I started on Abilify 5mg for something completely unrelated to imaginary conversations but while I've been on it I've noticed I've actually stopped doing this, I don't know how it affected that but it's a good thing because it used to disrupt my life a lot

Awesome. That's good to hear.

thanks for the update. glad you are doing better.

I kind of do this. I have always spoken to myself constantly and provided the other person's dialogue. I have even argued with myself before. I don't know if it's normal though. It seems relatively common.

My oh my, do I do this. I do tend to cap it off when i'm in public, but let me be in my car (especially) or in my room, or alone in general - and it happens. I actually did that at work the other week and got so caught up in this conversation that I had completely zoned out and came back to find a coworker staring at me confused asking me who I was talking to. I just busted out laughing.

Where I differ is, I don't feel them in my presence per say, I know its all in my head. I call it my "other world". Sometimes, I get so lost in my head that it just transfers into real life. My T knows about it, and says she thinks 1) they are not hallucinations, 2) it is a coping mechanism for me and 3) i'm lonely. Most recently, she's began creeping into these conversations (also known as "Fake T") and real T is very interested in knowing the things that fake t knows (cause sometimes I have to remember who knows what lol). Its all confusing and sounds crazy, but I think its actually a very okay and to some degree "normal" thing to do.

I'm with you tealBumblebee, sounds to me you've made some progress!

I don't know if it's the same as what you mean, but I have an imaginary world in my head and live in it constantly. I don't get a lot of things done, like cleaning the house, going shopping, getting ready for work, because I'm lying in bed living this different life in my head. And I have pictures of people I look at while I'm in my world, and they are characters that become real. I will get so in depth with these thoughts that I will get full emotions as if it were real life.

It's something I've done since I was a child. I remember having books and things and there would be a picture-whether a cartoon or a real person- who I would feel a connection to (it could just be the way they looked for example), and I would leave this picture in front of me while I did things because it was like they were there watching me. Then it progressed into a complete fantasy world. In fact it's probably more real to me than reality.
Over the years the characters or story line of my fantasy worlds change, but they generally have always revolved around a male figure, first it started as someone who was a father, now it's progressed into a male my imaginary self will be in a relationship with. But other than my first name, my character is a different person with an almost completely different life.
So I tend to become so wrapped up with what's in my mind that I will find myself talking out loud, or silently to myself, even in public. Unless I am so busy I literally don't have time for it, such as while I'm at work or on campus studying, all I am doing in living in my other world talking to myself like a complete lunatic.

Glad the Abilify seems to have helped.

I have imaginary conversations all the time...I think it's a way of processing and preparing for a real-life conversation or looking at all the ways a conversation can go. I do think though if it happens too much or affects a person's life severely it's time to look at it and get some help.

But I do do this...I will imagine the person there and talk with them (I usually do it silently, but if no one's around I'll talk aloud sometimes too). I've been caught doing it before and people have laughed and said they do it too.

Glad the meds are helping you blue, if it becomes a struggle I think it's important to intervene so keep it at . Sometimes our brains are too noisy huh?

Sometimes when im super excited about someone I will make imaginary conversations in my head. Don't know if that's normal or not XD but hey like my therapist says if your not harming yourself or anyone else then its ok it helps you cope.