Hello, all. I have two distinct voices in my head other than my own. One is male, the other female.
The female one is mean. She's discouraging and cruel. When I'm attempting to complete a task that I'm battling through, she tells me things like "what makes you think you're good enough (or smart enough) to get this done?"
When I feel attracted to a guy, she makes me doubt my ability to be attractive. She is the voice of all my insecurities, and doubts. I tell her to shut up. At times, I do so aloud. At times, she listens, at times she goes on and bloody on.

The male voice is kinder. More supportive. That voice encourages me to push on, to look on the bright side, to stay strong, to believe. At times, I respond to him, either in my head or aloud. Lately, I've been talking aloud.

At first, I thought, these voices are merely vocal expressions of my own thoughts, my own doubts (her) and a coping mechanism (him).
I've become concerned now because this afternoon, an argument broke out in my head between him and I over whether having coffee is a good idea or not. When I said rather loudly "what the f*** do you mean I shouldn't have a cup?!" I paused and realized what I was doing.
Are they merely a vocal expression of my doubts and a coping mechanism, or something else? Does anyone else have this problem?

P.S. He lost that argument. Coffee over voices any day.

Lately, I also find myself talking to myself a lot. It began at the beginning of last year. At first, I thought it weird, but decided it was fine as it allowed me to break down problems and tasks and find a solution. It's becoming a bother now because it seems like I'm actually conversing with someone I can't see, like we're deciding on something together. Does this make sense?

[sideblinded]

Hi Lexa2526

You explained it very well. It sounds like you have established some coping skills with these voices. Managing them continuously has got to be very difficult.

I found an excerpt that I thought was interesting and may help. It is below:

(The most useful strategy described by voice hearers is to select the positive voices and listen and talk only to them, and to try to understand them.
An important element in coping successfully with voices is to accept them. This appears to be related to a process of growth towards taking responsibility for one’s own decisions. You have to learn to think in a positive way about yourself, your voices, and your own problems.
Another strategy is to set limits and structure the contact with the voices, sometimes accompanied by rituals or repeated actions.)


I hope this helps in some way. Best wishes.

[kaliope]

so are you seeing a t? one that specializes in trauma?

i had lots of voices in my head telling me all kinds of bad things, one that always thought i was better off dead, one that said horrible things about me. i wrote down what it was like for me in there and gave it to t and pdoc and they both mentioned DID but then the conversation went no further.

my t continued to treat me but he never really addressed my trauma. my anxiety continued to build to where it was difficult to function each day. the haldol i was taking for my bipolar shut the voices down.

then i started with a new t who specialized in trauma and dissociation. i had been off the haldol for a while. i chose her cause she did hypnosis and it had worked briefly for the anxiety. i had mentioned the voices in my head and she really explored that.

it turns out that i have Dissociative disorder and those voices were alters. Now that they are getting to talk my anxiety is greatly reduced. I dont suffer from it every day. they were just wanting to get out.

i have a journal where i write to mine. we talk back and forth about things. it turns out things like my agoraphobia and fear of connecting with people are more based on their fears than my own. they are just trying to protect me.

so discuss your voices with your mental health professionals. take care.

Thank you for this. I will use it as a coping mechanism until I can talk about it with a therapist..

[wingo22]

Have you visited a therapist yet? I know it may be difficult, but it is something you can consider.

Originally Posted by wingo22

Have you visited a therapist yet? I know it may be difficult, but it is something you can consider.

Hello. Not yet. If I'm honest with myself, I'd say that I'm a bit reluctant to get back into therapy. The last round with a psychologist didn't go well.

However, seeing a trauma therapist seems to be the common recommendation. I'll put more effort into changing my answer of "no, I'm not" into "yes, I am."