Many people don't know this, but there are actually three types of self talk: Positive, Negative, and Instructional.
According to Mayo Clinic, there are four main ones to be exact: personalizing, filtering, catastrophizing, and polarizing.
Positive self-talk makes a person feel good about themselves. It can encourage and motivate a person to keep going, look on the “bright side,” and put things into perspective. Examples of positive self-talk are, “I am really happy for myself,” “I am doing well,” or “That is not great, but it could be worse”.
Some examples of positive self-talk: 'I can do it. ' 'I'm good enough. ' 'If I want to, I can. ' 'It doesn't matter if I make a mistake.
Self-talk is the way you talk to yourself, or your inner voice. You might not be aware that you're doing it, but you almost certainly are. This inner voice combines conscious thoughts with inbuilt beliefs and biases to create an internal monologue throughout the day.
For most people, talking to yourself is a normal behavior that is not a symptom of a mental health condition. Self-talk may have some benefits, especially in improving performance in visual search tasks. It can also aid understanding in longer tasks requiring following instructions.
There are anatomical correlates to self-talk, with neural activity in a number of brain areas related to the occurrence of both overt and subvocal self-talk, particularly in Broca's region in the left frontal cortex, and Wernicke's region in the left posterior superior temporal cortex.
Anger is the negative emotion that has been shown to have the biggest impact on our health and wellbeing, particularly where this is poorly managed.
Negative self-talk – damaging – I cannot do this! Positive self-talk – useful – I can do this! Possibility self-talk – even more useful – What if I can do this!
Helmstetter breaks down what he refers to as the Five Levels of Self-Talk (Negative Acceptance, Recognition and Need to Change, Decision to Change, The Better You and Universal Affirmation) and guides you through how to work through them for profound changes in your life.
Negative self-talk is a stressful and often involuntary form of self-criticism. These are thoughts that can be self-deprecating and may even contribute to or stem from mental health concerns like depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Intrapersonal communication, also referred to as internal monologue, autocommunication, self-talk, inner speech, or internal discourse, is a person's inner voice which provides a running monologue of thoughts while they are conscious. It is usually tied to a person's sense of self.
Here are some examples of positive self-talk: I have the power to change my mind. I have permission to change my mind. Attempting to do this took courage and I'm proud of myself for trying.
Intrapersonal communication can be defined as communication with one's self, and that may include self-talk, acts of imagination and visualization, and even recall and memory (McLean, 2005 ).
Most people talk to themselves regularly. This may happen when thinking through ideas, when debating decisions, or when in need of a pep talk. Some people feel that self-talk creates a “presence” around them that makes them feel better. This can help with loneliness.
Your self-talk can be a reflection of thinking traps or cognitive distortions. Thinking patterns are overly rigid ways of thinking that can cause individuals to miss certain cues or information about a situation. Thinking traps are common, especially in stressful situations.