Further Thoughts about Expressivity and Language: Reply to Peter Goldberg and Anne Alvarez

ABSTRACT

Two discussants offer different perspectives on my view of language as an expressive medium for some seriously disordered patients. An expressivist model of language is reviewed. Peter Goldberg challenges its integration of verbal and nonverbal forms, and the place of language when symbolization is undeveloped, as is common with such patients. I reply to his challenge and proposal of a sensory-perceptual mode to enable communication through language. Anne Alvarez sees verbal-nonverbal integration in the phenomenon of “voice,” which accords with my view of language as experiential. I find vitalizing aspects of voice that link to her approach of “reclamation.”

This article responds to:

The Therapist’s Voice: Discussion of “Expressivity and Transformation through Language in Work with Serious Disorder”

Does Talking Cure, or are We Searching for a Cure for the Way We Talk? Discussion of “Expressivity and Transformation through Language in Work with Serious Disorder”

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Rhythm and arousal are qualities of a poet’s voice identified by Al Alvarez, who is cited by Anne Alvarez (this issue, 2021), and footnoted here to avoid confusion.

² Meter is a quality of voice singled out by I.A. Richards, and cited by Alvarez (this issue, 2021).

³ The parts that mind and body both play in voice are described by L. Murray, and cited by Alvarez (this issue, 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa Director

Lisa Director, Ph.D., is Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology and Clinical Consultant at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is a faculty member and supervisor at the Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center. She is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and is in private practice in New York.