title: Black milk--an essay on the nature and importance of saying.
abstract: Three types of verbal communication are considered: saying, speaking and talking. While speaking covers a topic and talking fills a social void, saying is defined here as a communication to a particular person at a certain moment with a specific intended meaning or effect. Examples of saying are presented from the Bible and the author's interactions in cases of dementia and catatonia, and a poem by Celan. Examples are brought to help define the role of the psychotherapist in communicating with the depressive world view of his/her patients.
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, School of Continuing Medical Education, Dept. of Psychotherapy, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bodenheimer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001633:Bible; D003142:Communication; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D014705:Verbal Behavior