This article is evidence-based, verified by\u00a0Dr. Ahmed Zayed<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A therapist learns a lot about your health just by looking at your hands, from detecting underlying medical issues to identifying the side effects of antipsychotic medication. Hands can also help your therapist decipher your non-verbal cues<\/a>, which they can then use to get you to open up more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep reading for more details on why your therapist keeps looking at your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we'll cover:<\/p>\n
To the untrained eye, hands don’t tell much about a person’s medical condition. But to therapists, they can help detect a wide range of medical conditions that including Parkison’s Disease. While some of the\u00a0early signs and symptoms of Parkison’s Disease<\/a>\u00a0manifest in other parts of your body, things like limb stiffness and tremor can be detected by a therapist through hand examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Antipsychotic medication often comes with several side effects that are usually more pronounced in elderly patients. While these effects might take several forms, abnormal movement (formally known as Dyskinesias) is perhaps the most common and can be detected by examining hands, among other body parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the abnormal movements caused by antipsychotic medication may resemble those triggered by Parkison’s Disease. For instance, pill-rolling tremor is a common side effect of such medication and can vary from barely noticeable movement to chronic shaking that can make coordination difficult. Since this movement often affects hands, it could be one reason why your therapist keeps looking at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, looking at your hands is just a small part of diagnosing the side effects of antipsychotic medication. Your therapist may also perform a full-body examination because antipsychotics may also cause other neuromotor side effects such as <\/a>Tardive Dyskinesia, Akathisia, Dystonia, and Parkison’ s-like symptoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonverbal cues are an essential element of all social interactions, leave alone the one with your therapist. Without things like facial expressions, hand gestures, posture, or tone, most of what you say to other people would easily be misunderstood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research agrees with this line of thought, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a 2010 literature review<\/a> that sought to investigate the importance of nonverbal communication in psychotherapy, 60 to 65% of interpersonal communication happens nonverbally. You can say a lot with your body without even opening your mouth, and sometimes it can be the only thing you say when uncomfortable thoughts or situations are involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, it’s essential that your therapist picks up on nonverbal cues in each session<\/a>. Through these, they may detect inconsistencies between what your mouth and body are saying, which is critical to unearthing what you feel and think. Nonverbal cues help paint a complete picture of your emotional state, which your therapist can then use to devise an appropriate approach to treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot, as it turns out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, your therapist can gather a lot of information about you by just looking at your hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep in mind that therapists don’t rely only on hand-related nonverbal communication. They usually combine this information with findings from other non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, leg movement, tone, etc. to make a more confident diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As previously discussed, examining hand gestures and movement during a session is part of a therapist’s process of observing their patient’s body movements. When your therapist is familiar with these movements, they can develop an appropriate way of matching them to improve communication and build a rapport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subconsciously, when a therapist mirrors their patient’s body movement<\/a>, the latter feels more comfortable and is more likely to open up during sessions. That’s because people, in general, are more likely to connect on a deeper emotional level with individuals that they perceive as most like themselves<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we’ve seen throughout this discussion, a therapist may look at your hands for reasons that may range from diagnosing a severe medical condition<\/a> to building a rapport with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Either way, the best way to find a definitive answer would be to ask your therapist.<\/p>\n\n\n