Hi, welcome back to the savvy psychologist.

I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson, your host for a happier, healthier mind.

On the show, I'll help you meet life's challenges. a happier, healthier mind.

On the show, I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic

ear, and zero judgment.

We'll use the best of psychology to help you be happy, relaxed, and most importantly, yourself.

Today we'll talk about talking to yourself.

It's a question I often get that falls into the is this normal

bucket. Is it normal to talk to myself? In short, yes. Talking to one's

self isn't just for preschoolers and wild-eyed conspiracy theorists.

Consider these scenarios.

Trying to remember what you needed at the store.

Working to stay calm when something makes you angry, rehearsing asking for a raise or a date,

calculating a tip or other mental math, looking for your

looking into a jammed photocopier or trying to psych yourself up for a race or a game.

These, to name a few, are the times we talk to an audience of none. In fact, talking to oneself is universal. It's so common that it has

a name, private speech. And some scientists devote their entire careers to the phenomenon.

Most research on private speech is done with kids aged 2 to 7,

among whom private speech is just a part of normal development.

At first, kids talk to themselves just to play with words and express emotion, but gradually

their self-talk becomes more directed.

Kids begin to narrate tough tasks like learning to tie their shoes. They'll say now the

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