Did You Know That Talking Is Like Natural Medicine?

Dialogue is a powerful tool that is often used in therapies to deal with certain types of trauma or mental disorders.

If we never learned to talk when we were little, our brains would not develop as they do. Talking plays a vital role in other functions that are also extremely important for the social and rational animals that we are.

Relationships strengthen us in times of crisis and transition. That’s why the simple act of talking and sharing our problems is such a valuable tool for getting the help we so need.

Support groups: talking to heal

Support groups are made up of people who share some kind of problem and share stories and resources. They break out of the model of competition, and instead are inspired by the principles of cooperation, equality, and mutual support.

When things are hard, relationships make up for what we’re lacking in ourselves. Getting professional help has power. In fact, s ome people see amazing results just from talking, listening, and sharing their experience with people who have gone through similar situations.

One particular kind of dialogue is encouraged in support groups: talking about your problems, failures, worries, and feelings. The members of the group start to realize that what they’re feeling is normal and they’re not alone in it.

Putting your trauma into narrative form is healing

Some people turn to therapy when they’ve been through a trauma and now it’s affecting their life. In these cases, it’s common for people to feel unable to talk about the event they have repressed in their subliminal consciousness.

Part of the therapeutic work with “traumatized people” consists of expressing the event using words, building a narrative and integrating the experience into who they are. In short, it consists of giving the traumatic event a new meaning and reconstructing your identity.

The benefits of speaking more than one language

Speaking more than one language is not only good for relating to others, but is also exceptionally good for your mental health. Some of the advantages of being bilingual or multilingual are:

• Improves your perception.
• Delays the natural deterioration of important cognitive abilities like memory.
• Helps you process certain words faster.
• Protects you from Alzheimer’s disease.
• Help you make more rational decisions and solve problems more quickly.

Dialogue is also within

The myth that people who talk to themselves are a bit crazy is still out there. However, we actually all talk to ourselves; we encourage ourselves and berate ourselves.

The truth is that everything we say to ourselves has direct repercussions on how we act and how we feel. Just like how a group can empower its members through the words they say to each other, our internal dialogue also has the power to make us happier and healthier.

Psychologist Rafael Santandreu, in his book “El arte de no amargarse la vida” (The Art of Not Making Your Life Miserable), talks about how internal dialogue comes from our need to evaluate the things that happen to us. We should understand what control we have over our emotions and question the things we tell ourselves. Are we really always a disaster? Are we really worthless?

Just like exercising and reading, talking has the power to make us healthier and happier. Have you ever thought how much words can do?