Description: This book provides a clear and practical guide to semantics, syntax and discourse analysis specifically for those working with psychotic patients. It is intended for speech and language therapists and pathologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists and other mental health workers. This book is intended for the psychotherapist who does not necessarily have a background in linguistics.

The book discusses linguistic theory, focusing on current models of functional/cognitive linguistics and shows the application of linguistics in close interpretation of a client's speech. The affects of language on one's thoughts and responses and how knowledge of cultural differences in interactions enhances a therapist's interventions are examined. Therapy is shown as a pragmatic speech event, using actual portions of therapy sessions as examples of how such knowledge is pertinent in therapy. Linguistic explanations of how proverbs, idioms and metaphor are created and their social uses, focusing on their use in therapy for the addicted, are discussed. There is a discussion of speech disordered schizophrenics and how their utterances may be construed. The book concludes with a discussion of how people control others by telling and retelling their life stories.

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