Words and Symbols

Language has been a subject of study for around 3000 years, although humans have been talking to each other in all likelihood since homo sapiens evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago. Humans remain the only
species with the mental and physical capacity to transform thoughts into words, to think in words, to create and communicate with the symbolic notation of experience that is called language. Words are commonly used without awareness of their presence, much as breath is drawn without awareness of the task of breathing or of the surrounding air.
Psychotherapy by contrast pays detailed attention to what is said, how and by whom. In most modalities it is an activity almost entirely conducted through the medium of language, and examination of that language is an integral part of therapeutic work. Putting experience into words is viewed as therapeutic in itself as it both names and communicates what may have been hidden and without form, bringing the self back into relationship with the environment, with others, with itself. Given that therapy places such store on language, it is useful to know a little more about it. Most therapists will know little about the acquisition of language or its place in mental processes. Children are assumed to pick language up from their parents; therapy has concentrated on what happens next. Download here.