Voices: inside or outside your head? Or both?

Inspired by a post I saw in another one of my threads.

Do you hear voices inside your head or outside of your head? Or a combination of both?

For me it's a combination. Just wondering what others' experiences are.

I had a combination of voices inside and outside of myself. When speaking with someone two voices would come from their lips. I managed with some successful mind work to eradicate the outside voices. Now with a little more progress the ones inside will cease too. (they say they wont ofcourse, but when I intend them quieter they get quieter)

Both but only short ones from the outside...like "paranoid" or something like that. The inner ones are well developed people I know and other personalities and run non-stop when I'm psychotic.

Hi, atypical. I get the voices from both. Now, thanks to the meds, the outsiders are quiet and the insiders are pretty silent.

I get both, but typically inside ones. If I'm hypomanic it's every night. It's like I have 7 streams of thought all going on at exactly the same time. They're usually the same people... there's this one couple: and older man and woman that like to fight in my head. I'm not going to lie, I kind of like hearing them. (The fighting elderly couple I mean. )

The outside ones are pretty terrifying actually.

No lol it's both. I can have "people" screaming at me from the outside my head or I would have to open my bedroom door to see if someone's actually there when im alone in the house. I could have my mom talking to me saying things that she would probably say the next time i talk to her.

The voices inside my head are mostly when I'm relaxed or half asleep.

The risperidone murdered them all though.

Some of my voices are very lovely beings, I wouldn't want to murder them. I think that when they leave my mind they go to a better position of life. I think that all life is sacred even symbiotic relationships.

mainly inside...but outside as well...they change constantly....i call them the special people or the beings....it depends.these ones im hearing atm are different from the beings i use to hear before...its like they're on another level....they have plans for me that i wish to for fill. they had plans for me today but the universe is saying its not the right time. so i have to wait yet again for the time.

I play with mine sometimes. I call them names and judge them and they will act out the roles I give them. It is fun. I wonder where they come from.. I think it is a pure place, a place of potential because they can change to different 'forms'. I try to keep my forms as best as possible, otherwise if I judge them negatively I get negative in return.

Both but outside mainly. I do hear them inside but that is more like thought insertion. Sometimes out loud inside. Outside I hear them come from other people's conversations or right outside my ear. When that happens its annoying. Hearing people talk about me in restaurants is annoying as well. Everywhere I go people talk.

I have experienced both. The outside ones were much more terrifying. Both types enjoyed criticizing and threatening me. Often, they would tell me 'little' secrets about God and communism.

Now, I am not really bothered by voices. I do hear them on occasion. When I do, it is usually a whole bunch of comments on what I am doing, at the time.

This is a hypnagogic hallucination.

This is a harder question for me. I have Other me and I'm not sure if she counts as a voice or not, but she's inside my head. She's not a mean voice, though, if that's what she is. We were just talking this morning because I put on my favorite radio talk show on the way to work and I could hear a background talking. So I asked her if she thought maybe someone was trying to listen in on me? She said it could just be the radio station didn't connect all the way, push the button again. So I tried and it stopped. See, she helps me with things like that sometimes.

I do hear outside voices/sounds, but not often.

Yeah that's why I'm stopping with the risperidone because hypnagogic hallucinations seems to be normal for some people. If they get bad ill just ask for them back but i can just live with it its fine.

I had a new experience last night. I lay down to go to bed and I could hear this lovely choir singing. No words, just "Oooo oooo OOOO ooooo." Very perfectly harmonized. I lifted up my head, I looked outside. The t.v. was off, no radio. The sound followed me, not getting louder or quieter no matter which way I turned.

Just me and the baby in the dark with the singing. It was actually very calming and put me to sleep. Definately external sound, not internal.

I regularly get hypnagogic hallucinations. Some are incredible and beautiful. Sometimes, I am amazed with what my mind can come up with. They provide lots of ideas for my drawings and paintings and give them a dreamy feel. Most of my art is technical so I love it when I get surrealistic ideas.

These hallucinations got worse when I was sick. Is this common?

I'm not sure but last year in the hospital (for physical reasons) I had this awesome visual hallucination of a million popcorn seens flying around the room and making beautiful designs in teh air. It was amazing.

ive seen a lot of people say when they have colds or the flu it gets worse.

mine gets better when im sick.

Once, I saw a sphere with all kinds of branch-like projections surrounding it. There were smaller spheres caught in the projections and they appeared as if they were offspring. It was so vivid.

Yes, I have noticed this too. I think it is from the stress of being ill and over the counter medications. Cold medications are terrible for this.

Perhaps, the hypnagogic hallucinations disappear because of hyper-awareness.

I don't have a diagnose of schizophrenia or psychosis that I know of.
All the voices I hear are inside of my head. Even when I had that horrible attack where I thought spirits were talking to me, I felt them inside my head, I never Heard any external voice. My psychiatrist has told me that's not hallucinations.But in my head there are sometimes voices telling me and giving me advice on my life, in different languages...(mainly english and spanish...)that's a symptom of DID...I think I might have DID...

That seems a little odd----were you clear that it wasn't your internal voice and that it was voices plural when you told your psychiatrist? Because it really sounds like psychosis to me.

I have a thing I call Other me. I am not sure what she is, but the more I learn about voices the more I wonder if she is one. She has been with me so long I don't remember when it started.

She is part of me but not me. She is internal. She observes and gives me advice, is friendly & supportive. I know if she were external she would look different than me.

I don't think I have DID, she never takes control. And when I feel disconnected she also feels that way.

just thought you might like to know Schizophrenia and many other mental disorders and many physical health problems do have a symptom of hearing voices in their heads not outside their heads.. so its not just a symptom of DID.... and the voices with DID are usually in the persons own language or a language they have been taught or exposed to.. you can find out where these other parts of you (whether they are from DID or other reasons) learned to talk other languages by contacting your psychiatrist. they will tell you what those others inside you told them about how they learned to speak other languages.

example I speak english and my native american heritage language, I had an alters that spoke french, german and spanish. they learned to speak these languages by being short term exchange students with my high schools exchange students program.

speaking other languages isnt a symptom of having DID. its called being bi lingual. which is a completely normal thing that happens to people who have been exposed to more than one language.

I read a magazine article about a non-mentally ill woman who heard voices that gave her advice. She found them quite comforting.

Is there a difference between inside and outside voices, clinically?