One of the trends I see in my role as a teacher and as a counselor is the harm that can be caused by oversimplification. Typically what I see is that someone will exaggerate their thoughts or emotions by using language that may speed up expression of thoughts and feelings but can also minimize or maximize the impact of the situation. It gets even worse when the language they use also includes definitive terms like always, and never.
Some examples:
“I’m always depressed”
“I’m always anxious”
“I’m never happy”
“I hate math”
“I hate reading”
I could go on, but I think it’s pretty easy to get the point. When I hear statements like these I start to worry about how they affect habits of thought which in turn fuel emotions and behaviors. My instinct is to challenge statements like these by asking questions. Asking questions allows me (and my student or client) to gather more details and increase our clarity about how the language they use may be impacting their lives.
