I Won't, But Your Child Might

When many people (neighbors, parents of our child's friends, etc.) find out I've spent years studying psychology, they are quick to assume I'm analyzing every nuance of their behavior. Usually, nothing of the sort is going on. It takes far to much energy to engage in covert analysis, particularly if I'm not being paid to do it, for one thing. For another, I've found that it's unsettling when I'm the one being analyzed in such a scenario. My child, three years ago, before I had my last degree, concluded a discussion with me by a tilt of the head to one side, a quick frown of consideration, and then the pronouncement of "You've lost it somewhere!"

However, this doesn't mean I don't play mental hypochondriac with myself from time to time, analyzing my own behavior!

Here's an example of how that works.

I know my multi-tasking ability has decreased somewhat over the last couple years. That's mostly from lack of steady practice and it's been intentional: I can't be completely present with a client or even my kid if I'm also working on something else. But the lack of practice shows up when I'm forced to multi-task and I'm not prepared for it.

Let's say I've been doing some light reading about NLP or Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome. (Yes, I can curl up with a text book as easily as a Stephen King novel.) So I'm reading about the cerebrum and spouse asks if I'd like a snack, and while I'm still looking at the page, I tell him that if there's any cerebrum, I'd like a stick with peanut butter. Then I say something like $#!&@ and correct myself. "Celery, I mean!"

While my family just laughs, I get concerned. Sheesh, am I having little micro-strokes and not realizing it? Do I have a brain tumor? Or - gasp - is it possibly just the result of getting older? (Most likely, but there's no cure for that one!) I haven't seen research to back this up, but since I started keeping track, I noticed that the whole wrong word thing seems to precede tension headaches. I don't get auras with migraines, so I guess this is my trade-off.

So I've got a mission this summer, which is to see if I can find any connection between apraxia and tension headaches. If you happen to run across any research, please let me know!

And in the meantime, if we happen to run into each other at the store or something, don't worry - I'm not analyzing you. Chances are, your kids already have.