Finding the right words: symbolizing experience in practice and theory

ABSTRACT

Much of therapy, particularly person-centered therapy, is devoted to finding words to accurately symbolize the experiences the client chooses to share. Accurately symbolizing clients’ problematic experiences allows them to be assimilated and transformed into personal resources.

Words are used to share experience. Word meanings grow by accumulating the experience of those who use the words. As a result, language incorporates a repertoire of personal and cultural experience, which therapists and clients use to articulate and transform problematic experiences.

Building a theory likewise requires finding the right words to accurately symbolize scientific and clinical observations. A theory grows by accumulating these observations. Thus, a good theory reproduces, in a compact form, an aggregate of the experience of those who have researched it.

Trouver les mots justes : symboliser l’expérience en pratique et en théorie.

Beaucoup de thérapies, et en particulier la thérapie centrée sur la personne, sont destinées à trouver des mots pour symboliser avec justesse les expériences que le client choisit de partager. La symbolisation fidèle des expériences problématiques amenées par les clients permet de les assimiler et de les transformer en ressources personnelles. Le mot est utilisé pour partager l’expérience. Les significations d’un mot s’enrichissent en accumulant les expériences de ceux qui utilisent ces mots. Il en résulte que le langage incorpore un répertoire d’expériences personnelles et culturelles que les thérapeutes et les clients emploient pour articuler et transformer des expériences problématiques. Construire une théorie requiert également de trouver les mots justes pour symboliser avec exactitude les observations cliniques et scientifiques. Une bonne théorie reproduit donc, sous forme compacte, un agrégat de l’expérience de ceux qui l’ont investiguée.

Die richtigen Worte finden: das Symbolisieren von Erfahrung in Praxis und Theorie

Vieles in der Therapie, besonders in der Personzentrierten Therapie, ist darauf angelegt, Worte zu finden, um die Erfahrungen genau zu symbolisieren, die die Klient-Person teilen möchte. Das genaue Symbolisieren von problematischen Erfahrungen der Klient-Person ermöglicht, dass diese Erfahrungen assimiliert und zu persönlichen Ressourcen transformiert werden. Worte werden dazu verwendet, um Erfahrung mitzuteilen, Wortbedeutungen wachsen, indem die Erfahrung von denen, die die Worte verwenden, gesammelt wird. In der Folge verkörpert Sprache ein Repertoire von persönlicher und kultureller Erfahrung, welches Therapeut- und Klient-Personen verwenden, um problematische Erfahrungen auszudrücken und zu transformieren.

Eine Theorie aufzustellen erfordert gleichermaßen, dass man die richtigen Worte findet, um wissenschaftliche und klinische Beobachtungen genau zu symbolisieren. Eine Theorie wächst, indem diese Beobachtungen gesammelt werden. Damit reproduziert eine gute Theorie in kompakter Form die Gesamtsumme der Erfahrung von jenen, die sie erforscht haben.

Encontrando las palabras correctas: simbolizar la experiencia en la práctica y la teoría

Gran parte de la terapia, particularmente la terapia centrada en la persona, se dedica a encontrar palabras para simbolizar con precisión las experiencias que el cliente elige compartir. Simbolizar con precisión las experiencias problemáticas de los clientes les permite asimilarlas y transformarlas en recursos personales.

Las palabras se utilizan para compartir la experiencia. Los significados de las palabras crecen al ir acumulando la experiencia de quienes las usan. Como resultado, el lenguaje incorpora un repertorio de experiencias personales y culturales, que los terapeutas y los clientes usan para articular y transformar experiencias problemáticas.

Construir una teoría también requiere encontrar las palabras correctas para simbolizar con precisión las observaciones científicas y clínicas. Una teoría crece al ir acumulando estas observaciones. De esta manera, una buena teoría reproduce, en forma compacta, un agregado de la experiencia de quienes la han investigado.

Encontrar as palavras certas: a simbolização da experiência, na prática e na teoria

Grande parte da terapia, em particular da terapia centrada na pessoa, dedica-se a encontrar as palavras que simbolizam, de forma precisa, as experiências que o cliente opta por partilhar. A simbolização precisa das experiências problemáticas dos clientes permite que estas sejam assimiladas e convertidas em recursos pessoais. As palavras são usadas para partilhar experiência. Os significados das palavras ampliam-se pela acumulação da experiência daqueles que usam essas palavras. Consequentemente, a linguagem incorpora um reportório de experiências pessoais e culturais, que terapeutas e clientes usam para articular e transformar as experiências problemáticas.

Da mesma maneira, a construção de uma teoria requer encontrar as palavras certas para simbolizar com precisão as observações científicas e clínicas. Uma teoria cresce através da acumulação dessas observações. Assim sendo, uma boa teoria reproduz, de maneira compacta, um agregado da experiência daqueles que a pesquisaram.

KEYWORDS:

• semiotics
• theory-building
• symbolizing experience
• historicity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I am here not making a distinction between signs and symbols (see Stiles, 2009, 2011). In this, I have been particularly influenced by the semiotics of Mikhail Bakhtin (1986; Leiman, 1992, 2011). Thus, I understand Rogers’s concept of symbolizing experience to mean conveying one’s experience to another using signs (especially, but not exclusively, words).

2. Technically, the proper unit of meaning is the utterance, such as a simple sentence, rather than the word (Bakhtin, 1986; Leiman, 2011; Stiles, 2011). Utterances are composed of words and other signs, however.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William B. Stiles

William B. Stiles is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA. He has been President of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. He has served as Editor of Psychotherapy Research and Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies.