Thought and lenguage - the wording of sentences

... Out modes of thinking as well as the artifacts of our culture ar at the mercy of the lenguage
we speak (Sapir and whorf, cited in deece, 1970)

The world around us and the words we use for description are not one and the same. Our
cultural lenguaje has given us words that help us to understand ourselves and others. The
choice of words we use to describe our situations largely determines how we perceive what is
happening. However, lenguaje, words, and sentences are not fully adequate to describe our
world. The eminent Russian linguist Vygotsky gives us the following example:

Thought , unlike speech, does not consist of separare units. When I wish to communicate
the thought that today I saw a barefoot boy in a blue shirt running down the Street, I do not
see every ítem separately: the boy, the shirt, its blue color, the absence of shoes. I conceive of
all this in one thought; but i put I into separate words. A speaker ofren takes several minutes
to disclose one thought. (Vygotsky, 1962, p.150)

*We are indebted to Barbara partee of the university of Massachusetts

It is important to realice that words and structures can never describe the full range of human
experience. The feelings, thought, and experiences of the counselor and the client can never
be fully shared via words. At best, we make an approximation.

The counselor must realize that when a client describes an event the description is a
representation of the event and not the event itself. As such, therapists receive only a very
small portion of their client’s life, events, or experiences.

There is an infinite number of ways people can describe their world. Some people become
blocked and have only one sentence or representation of their world and are unable to
generate the many posible ways of describing themselves and their world.

One task the intentional counselor is to provide the client with an ever increasing
array of responses for describing any situation, and this means a broader, more
comprehensive worldview. The Young woman having dificulties with her lover needs the ability
to generate more ways of describing her situation. Particularly, she needs at least one way to
describe her world that is more effective for here. The question becomes: Which words are
most functional and useful to describe the world? The therapeutic benefit of the couseling
processs may begin to take effect when useful, satisfying verbal descriptions can be
developed.

It is useful for the counselor to start searching the staments of the client for key
words and descriptions that provide an indication of how that person views the world. This
may be acomplished through the use of empathy, a wellstructured interview, and the
attending skills of open questions, paraphrasing, reflection of feeling, and summarization. In
this manner, the counselor assist the client to describe the world as he or she sees it, with
minimal inference on the part of the counselor. A central objective of many theories of
counseling is to understand the client’s world before taking action to change that world.
 Through careful attending to the client, the counselor can begin to see patterns
of words and ideas appearing that indicate typical thought processes. For example, the client
may always talk in the past tense about negative early experience and find it virtually
impossible to talk about present-day concerns with a husband oe wife, thus uselessly going
over old data. Or a client may always talk in a vague fashion about communication difficulties
with a child. Certain words or phrases may appear frequently, such as, “I am responsable; it’s
my fault”, “that’s a Little problema; he’s a small man; no big thing”, or, as in the case of the
Young woman at the beginning of this chapter,”I”ve done for him; I did that….” Etc. Through
examination of these patterns, the underlying thought of the client begins to come through
and is more accesible to change, In the case of the womae, we night note her past-tense verb
form and the repetitious pattern of her doing things for her male lover. Her underlying thought
may be that it is her fault and that she is responsable…

The impact of a therapist or counselor’s language system on the client should be stressed. A
single client may present a problema concerning impotence. Each therapeutic school will
represent that problema in different language systems. A Rogerian client-centered therapist
will tend to emphasize feelings about impotence; a behaviorist might stress cause-and-effect
“stimulus-response” bonds; while a psychoanalytically oriented counselor will use the
language of Freud and perhaps talk about “repressed” anger or an “Oedipal conflict”.

Through contact in the interview, the client will tend to take on the same language system
(and thus the representational system and worldview) of her or his therapist or counselor. The
client has indeed been freed to generate new verbal sentences and ways of representing the
world, but it is posible that these new ways of reponding simply represent the ideas of another
person rather tan being real and authentic.

Worky by Meara, Shannon, and Pepinsky(1979) is particularly interesenting here. They

examined interviews held bye three therapists (Rogers, Perls, and Ellis) with a single client,
Gloria. They found that Gloria in each case tended to match the lenguaje system of the therapy
and therapist. Linguistic matching is not just a hypotheical issue; it occurs regularly. At times,
counselors will want to match the language and worldview. The power of systematic study of
verbal and nonverbal communication cannot be overstated. As you work with these ideas, high
ethical standards are vitally important.

Finally, people fron varying, cultural, racial, ethnic, and socieconomic backgrounds are
likely to develop different representational language systems. Fyen people of roughly similar
backgrounds are likely to ue different language in describing the same event. For example, in
viewing the sudden religious conversion of several members of former President Nixon’s staff,
following the problems of watergate, two White middle-class males might differ in ther
language systems. A person of a conservative Protestant religious background is likely to
welcome and support the new thought patterns and language of the convert. However, a less
religious person is likely to view the same event with suspicion and disfrust. As nother
example, an African individual may find the family patterns ans relationships in North America,
particularly among middle-class whites, diffuse nd disorganized, whereas to the middle-class
White Americans themselves, they seern normal and appropriate, Because of personal,
historical, and cultural background representational and laguage systems will be as diverse as,
or perhaps even more varying tan, patterns of nonverbal communication. The counselor must
always be aware of the fact that what means one thing to her or him, may mean something
totally different to the client.

Since a major task of the counselor is to understand and work with the language of the
client, ir may be useful at this point to examine some practical implications og language and
thought analysis that may occur in the interview.

Moving from Surface structure to Deep structure-From the outside to the Inside. The
sentences we use to describe our perceptions and thoughts could be termed Surface structure
sentences. The term Surface structure is used to describe a situation, person, or event. Surface
sentence examples in this chapter include: “The ticket ripped” “Sad… so sad.. so sad..,” and “I
love him so much. Why won’t he respond to me?” We have seen that simple rearrangement of
the words in a surface structure sentence can change the meaning of an event in the life of a
client. A sufficient number of sentence rearrangements by the client can imply that counseling
or therapy has been succesful and that a life has changed direction.

Counselors and therapists do not generally have their clients change the format of their
sentences, although this simple technique proves to be effective if used judiciously. More
frequently, therapists are interested in moving clients to the deep structure. Deep structure is
defined as the set of words, thoughts, and perceptions that underlie Surface structure
sentences. Through in- depth examinations of key sentences of clients, the counselor can assist
in changing perceptions, thoughts, surface structure in intentionality.

Le tus asume that our depressed patient has been in the psychiatric clinic for
period of time. His single partial sentence, ·Sad… so sad….. so sad….” Has been expanded
through skills trianing, drugs, ora n alternative method, and he i sable to undergo forms of
formalized therapy in a verbalized interniew. The task of the therapist is to make the Surface
structure sentence more complete and to search for the underlying words and ideas
represented. The following interchange might occur:

HELPER: Sam, as I was listening to you when you first came to clinic, you kept saying, “sad…. So
sad… so sad….” First could you tell me who was or is sad? (From a gramatical ponit of view, we
have no clear subject, verb, or object in the Surface sentence)

HELPEE: I guess. I’m sad.

HELPER: What, specifically, do you mean by saying you’re sad? ( Beginning of search for
underlying structure. We now have a complete Surface structure sentence. “I’am sad)

HELPEE: I don’t seem able to do anything right. I thought I was working hard, but my boss
never said I was doing anything right. My wife never seemed interested either.

HELPER: You say you don’t seem able to do anything right. Could you tell me about a specific
incident where you talked with your boss and you ended up feeling that way? (with this
paraphrase and question, the process of finding the deep structure underlying “Sad… so sad…
so sad….” Has begun. The counselor had an important decisión to make in response to the
client and could have asked for more elaboration on relations with the boss or with the wife.
Staying on both topics at this point offers potential confusion, but the relationship with the
wife should be “flagged” and examined at a later point in this in terview.)
 It may be seen that the process of moving from Surface to deep structure is not really that
complex. The counselor ha asked for specifics or concreteness through the use of open
questions. The client is now able to share some of the thoughts and feelings underlying the
first Surface structure sentence and the process of therapy has begun. A vast array of deep
structure sentences are explored , it will be found that still deeper sentences lie below. For
example, underlying the relationship with the boss may be a generalized pattern of authority
relationship problems that, in turn, stem back to unconscious childhood patterns between son
and father. The sentence, “I’am scared”, may be a representation simultaneously of fear of the
boss, strained authority relationship on other Jobs, problems in school, and underlying stress
and strain between a child and the parents.

The search for deep structure can take years of long-term psychoanalytic therapy. Or
the search may be completed within a few short interviews if the therapist amplifies present
situations with some supporting material sor imposes her or his theorical frame and deep
structure on the client appears in rational-emotive therapy where a new structure for thinking
is substituted for diffuse and incoherent patterns. Which method is appropriate? That depends
on the theory preferred by the individual counselor. Both methods may change the language
representational systems of the client. Research suggests that some theories and methods are
better for some people while other systems are better for other people.

The crucial issue for the beginning counselor at his point is to realize that virtually
all theorires seek to find deep structures of meaning underlying Surface structures. The
techniques to do this focus on: (1) primarily using attending skills to bring out further specific
information; (2) systematically selecting or deciding on one issue at a time for work; and (3)
after a Surface sentence has been explored, returning to another sentence to search for
further data.

INCONGRUITIES AND DISCREPANCIES

Le tus return to the Young woman rho had difficulties with her lover. As she began the
interview, her voice became tight and tense; her body became rigid; and she said, “I love him
so much…” Assume that is all she said. If the verbal message says love, the body and vocal
messages are saying something else. We may say that she is presenting discrepancies or
incongruities in he behavior. This discrepancy immediately becomes a central issue for the
therapy proces. It becomes a Surface structure sentence of its own that needs examination.
What lies under the doublé message of differing verbal and nonverbal sentences?

The Young man presents a doublé message also. His predominant verbal and
nonverbal picture is that of a slow-moving depressive rapid-fire, “saad….so sad…. So sad…” are
incongruous with the picture presented. Again, we have an important Surface message that
needs to be decoded. What lies under the doublé message?

Double messages, incongruities, and discrepancies appear constantly in counseling

interviews. A client may present an open right hand and smile while the left hand is closed in a
fist. The counselor may be siting with an open posture while convering the genital área with
both hands. The client may say, “I really like my parents”, while intending to say he or she likes
could be interpreted as a “ death wish”. More directly, some clients will say, “I both love and
hate my children and those mixed feelings scare me”. Dreams represent a type of mixed and
incongruent message as well. The task for the theapist is to identify mixed and incongruent
message as well. The task for the terapist is to indentify mixed messages and to search for the
underlying meaning or deeper structure.

One of the main tasks of couseling is to assist clients to work through, resolve, or
learn to live with incongruities. In congruities, discrepancies, and mixed or doublé messages are
often at the root of immobility, and the inability to respond creatively. Most counseling
theories have as their main focus the resolution of incongruities. Freudians talk about resolving
polarities and unconscious conficts; Gestaltists, about resolving splits; client-centered
therpists, about resolving mixed feelings; rational-emotional counselors about the distinction
between unreal and real goals… the list could continue. The importance of naming and
resolving incongruities cannot be overstressed.

The observation of client verbal and nonverbal incongruities is obviously basic to your
work as a therapist or counselor and in influecing your clients toward a new and hopefully,
more intentional direction. You will tend to work more a new and hopefully more intentional
direction. You will tend to work more effectively with your client if you select only one
incongruity or discrepancy at a time. Clients can be overwhelmed when you summarize and
identify several apparent discrepancies. For example, the Young woman has difficulties with
her lover may manifest discrepncies in her nonverbals ( for example, a clenched fist
representing anger in one hand and an inviting leading gesture with the other), discrepancies
in her verbal statements and feeling words ( for example, at one time expressing anger at him
for impotence, another time expressing love and understanding), verbal discrepancies
between herself as an active feminist and an individual who wants a traditional relationship
with a man in the long run. All these discrepancies and more may show in a client in a short
time, and brining them out via confrontation may frighten and drive the client away.

Clients come to couseling for the resolution of their discrepancies and

incongruities. While they may not always be consciously aware of the nature of the mixed
messages they receive (and they give to others), therapy and counseling are about the
resolution of differences. These incongruities may exist within the individual in terms of an
unconscious “ battle” with one’s parents, the inability of a Black persono r woman to cope with
excessive discrimination, conflicto with a spouse, difficulties in vocational choice, or inability to
behave in satisfactory manner in social situations. These incongruities are shown in verbal and
nonverbal messages.

Your task as a counselor or therapist is to “read” these nonverbal and verbal

messages, get underneath the Surface structure, and determine the nature of the nature of
the conflicto. Incongruities and mixed messages are the “stuff” of counseling and
psychotherapy, and in their indentification and resolution you show your ability and caring a
profesional helper.

Now let us turn to possible routes toward resolution of conflict via the ideas of “pacing” and
“leading”.