Week 5, Post 2: Symptom Strategy

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to avoid discussion when I don't feel like talking about something. The symptom strategy on page 171 of Chapter 13 sums up what I usually do! Instead of admitting that we would rather remain silent about a subject, symptom strategy is attributing our silence to something beyond our control such as being tired or feeling sick. My mother always wants to probe and ask me questions that I don't want to discuss with her. I always find some "symptom" to use as an excuse. I'll tell her I'm really tired or that I have a headache. Even though we may use symptom strategy, we must be aware that our family and friends are still paying attention to what we don't say. Nonverbal communication can also send messages even when we are silent. After coming home from date in high school, my mom asked me how it was. I remember telling her I was really tired and was going to bed. But she was still paying attention to my nonverbal communication and it was saying that I didn't exactly have a great time. We may feel that silence masks everything but in reality, we often forget about the nonverbal. I've noticed my nonverbal signals are easily read by my family and even some of my friends. Alas, this makes remaining silent virtually impossible...