Imagine you’re driving in the car on your way to drop the kids off at school. You stop at the red light and begin to list off all of the things that you’re working on and stressed about getting finished. You’re talking to yourself trying to work through a particularly stressful situation when the light turns green and you drive off…Your child is in the back listening to you.
Does this sound familiar?
Question: Is your external dialogue encouraging anxiety in others?
Advice: When we talk out loud to ourselves it is referred to as external dialogue. Brian Dixon, M.D., cautions parents and caregivers about processing out loud or expressing our internal dialogue as external dialogue in front of children or clients. Often times the child or client will take on the anxiety you are expressing and their stress will increase.
Expert: Brian Dixon, M.D., Executive Director of Progressive Psychiatry, P.A. and Board Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
For more advice from Dr. Dixon, watch and listen to his professional development training on ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism: Practical Approaches to Child Psychiatry to learn about practical ways parents and caregivers can help manage these disorders, while reconnecting with the fun of parenting.
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Are you an external processor? Share with us your thoughts in the comment section. Have a question for our military caregiving team? Let us know! Stay tuned for more from our Expert Advice series.
The new blog series provides monthly advice from subject matter experts on issues surrounding military caregiving for service providers and families. We take questions and concerns from military helping professionals and families and provide the necessary feedback from credible experts in the field of study. Whether you are a provider or a caregiver, what questions do you have? We want to hear from you.
This MFLN-Military Caregiving concentration blog post was published on June 10, 2016.
