Study Reveals That Talking Excessively About Yourself May Signal Emotional Distress

When someone can't stop talking about themselves, it's natural to assume they must be a bit self-obsessed.

There's a certain threshold of “me, me, me” we can tolerate before we get tired and stop paying attention, hearing nothing but blatant narcissism.

Yet new research suggests that those who say “I” excessively may be dealing with something beyond simply being tedious conversationalists with egocentric speech patterns.

In fact, they may be more susceptible to a range of psychological problems, including depression and anxiety.

Building on earlier findings from 2015 indicating that repeated use of “I” or “self-focused speech” might not signal narcissism, a new study from the University of Arizona found that such language could actually point to emotional difficulties.

Regarding what counts as excessive self-focused speech, researchers explained that an average person uses about 16,000 words daily, with roughly 1,400 of these being first-person singular pronouns like “I.”

The excessive self-talker, however, will use these words more than 2,000 times a day.

Published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the study illustrates strong connections between self-focused speech and negative emotions; that is, individuals who are easily irritated and may be experiencing tension, anger, depression, and/or anxiety.

Researchers developed their findings by analyzing data from 4,700 residents in Germany and the United States.

This data measured levels of self-focused speech alongside indicators of negative emotions through both written and spoken tasks.

However, lead author Allison Tackman clarified that self-focused speech itself shouldn't be considered a direct indicator of depression.

“It may be easier to assess a tendency not just toward depression, but toward negative emotions more broadly,” she said.

She adds that the correlation may also depend on the context in which self-focused speech occurs.

“If you're talking in a personal context, you're talking about something relevant to you, like a recent breakup, then we see the relationship between self-focused speech and negative emotions emerge,” Tackman said.

“But if you're communicating in a more impersonal context, like describing a photograph, we don't see that relationship emerge.”

Interestingly, while repeated use of “I” was linked to negative emotions, frequent use of “my” was not.

Researchers explained this may occur because people typically also say “my” when talking about another person or object, thus shifting focus away from themselves in the language.

As for why self-focused speech is so intrinsically tied to psychological problems, Tackman explains that it often involves people preoccupied with negative life experiences and how they've been affected by them.

“When you think back to being in those situations, when you're so focused on yourself, you end up saying things like ‘why can't I get better?’”

“You're so focused on yourself that you end up using these first-person singular pronouns not just in your head, but also when writing or talking with others. The self-focus that negative emotion brings spreads into your language.”

Originally published at independent.co.uk