title: Symbolization in psychotherapy with patients who are disabled.
abstract: Symbols created during the process of psychotherapy serve psychological functions of giving form and substance to previously murky experiences, making what is private something shared, and forging meaningful linkages among thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. Symbols can also enable therapist and patient together to gain insight into transference themes, transformations in identity, and feelings about life changes, as well as serve as guides to articulating treatment goals. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate the process.
authors.affiliation: Menninger Clinic, Topeka, KS 66601-0829.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Langer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001155:Art Therapy; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003142:Communication; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013561:Symbolism; D014167:Transference, Psychology