“Self-Talk” and North Carolina Personal Injury Plaintiffs

Posted on February 2013    

If you were harmed in a car crash or hurt by a defective drug or medical product in North Carolina–or, worse, witnessed a loved one suffer due to another party’s negligence/carelessness–you have more important things to deal with than your own psychological bugbears.

Now is the time for action.

If you haven’t yet retained a North Carolina personal injury or defective drug or product lawyer, you need to research firms, ASAP. If your finances are a mess in the wake of a massive medical bill, you need to deal with that, stat. If you’re an injured caretaker, and you have dependents who need you for sustenance and shelter, you need to find child care help immediately.

But once you’ve plugged the dam, so to speak, consider tackling the psychological issues related to the accident/defective-device-related injury, sooner rather than later.

In particular, pay attention to the way you talk to yourself. Studies of so-called “self talk” hold surprising and scary findings. For instance, the vast majority of our thoughts, the vast majority of the time, are negative thoughts. This mental chatter — to the effect of: “my body feels tight here” or “I really should have written XYZ in that email, instead of ABC” — can constitute a debilitating drumbeat of bad news that creates tension, drains your energy, and steals focus from important tasks.

Some other studies provide even more shocking revelations. When people go through different experiences–driving cars, getting stuck in traffic, taking showers, love making, etc.–their internal monologues don’t stop going. The extent to which they can tune out these monologues and just pay attention to whatever they’re doing–eating a fine meal, merging in traffic, etc.–is the extent that they feel happier. If/when you can, put your self-talk on hold and just “be in the moment.”

Of course, the science doesn’t suggest that everyone should just shut-off and become a Zen meditator. Rather, you want to avoid the problems that come with the futile cycling of thoughts–that is, having the same negative thoughts recur without action.

Your North Carolina defective drug or defective medical equipment case is undoubtedly a source of many negative thoughts right now. Get clarity to manage the case and also shut down the annoying and useless chatter. Connect with DeMayo Law Offices today at (877) 333-1000.