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What is intrapersonal communication?

We explain what is intrapersonal communication, examples and features. Also, what are the problems it presents.

  1. What is intrapersonal communication?

Intrapersonal communication  is what a person engages with himself . This form of communication implies that it is the same  person who issues and, at the same time , who receives the same message.

Intrapersonal communication consists of the analyzes that the person carries out privately  and can include everything that the person hears, reads or repeats. It is through this type of communication that people connect with their consciousness, reflect, cheer up or calm down. This intrapersonal dialogue can also arise messages or negative thoughts that generate fear, insecurity or anxiety , among other emotions.

Intrapersonal communication includes, in addition to thoughts or reflections, ideas, dreams and thoughts aloud.

  1. Examples of intrapersonal communication

Intrapersonal communication
Intrapersonal communication can generate negative ideas and thoughts.

People can maintain different types of intrapersonal communications. Some examples are the following:

  • Between body parts.  This happens when an organ in the body sends a message to the central nervous system . For example, the sensation of heat or cold, the desire to eat, some pain, burning or tickling.
  • Aloud. More than once, people find themselves talking out loud or even reading out loud. This can be used to pay attention, calm down, order a series of ideas or concentrate. Sometimes this form of communication occurs unconsciously.
  • Negative These are those thoughts or ideas that generate anguish in people and can affect the  individual’s self – esteem , as well as their links with the rest of society . Among these negative thoughts are the following:
    • Catastrophic.  The person, in this case, usually maintains dialogues with himself that generate rejection, anxiety, guilt or pity towards his person.
    • Victim.  The person maintains dialogues in which he feels that the rest is superior to him and feels totally unprotected.
    • Irrelevant.  Having this kind of thinking means that the person cannot get out of a vicious cycle of exhaustion and stress  since he keeps repeating the objectives he did not reach again or again or any type of frustration.
    • Self-critical  It occurs when the person feels useless and all the self-assessments that are done are totally negative.
  1. Characteristics of intrapersonal communication

Intrapersonal Communication
The individual must interpret or reflect on the messages he sends himself.

There are different forms of communication and, to identify the intrapersonal of the rest, some qualities to consider could be the following:

  • It is inevitable  The person cannot choose whether or not to maintain this type of communication. To give a graphic example, it is not like when the telephone rings and the individual chooses not to answer. Intrapersonal communication simply “sprouts” and can even be very difficult to handle.
  • It is unilateral  Unlike bilateral or multilateral communications, in which the roles between senders and receivers are exchanged, here the conversation is between a single person who is, at the same time, sender and receiver of the message (no change of roles or feedback) “).
  • They are not  necessarily  literal  Many times the individual must interpret or reflect on the messages he sends himself.
  • It works as a “filter . ” This type of communication helps people to behave in a “socially accepted” way. Thanks to her, people manage to self-censor certain comments, gestures, behaviors that, otherwise, would be frowned upon by the rest.
  • A single person is not used  These dialogues with oneself can be carried out using the first person, but also the second person. This depends on each one, as well as on the circumstance in which it occurs.
  1. Problems of intrapersonal communication

As listed above, people may have negative thoughts and this can affect their health  as well as their bond with the rest of the people. That is why it is key to identify when a person suffers from these types of problems  to work on them.

It may also happen that an idea or message is repeated in the individual’s head over and over again and it is important to be aware because they may be sending signals about an external problem that the person must face and solve. Once this is done, the message will disappear.

It is very common for people who suffer from negative thoughts to turn to therapists or specialists to guide them to overcome them, or to help the person to  live  with them without affecting their self-esteem or behavior .

It is also important to know how to control this type of thoughts , even when they do not occur in a pathological way, but in a situation of too much pressure or stress. Having negative thoughts is more common and frequent than one imagines. There are studies that reveal that an individual dedicates about 15 hours per day to dialogues with oneself. And, of the total, 80% of those communications would be negative.

  1. Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is bilateral or multilateral.

It is very common to contrast intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. What does the latter mean? It is the reciprocal communication that exists between at least two people . This means that it is not unilateral, but bilateral or multilateral.

In other words, in the interpersonal communication  the sender and receiver roles are constantly exchanged and, at the same time, the person who sends the message is not the same as the person who receives it.

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