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The speech of the patient who is quoted in this paper was often incoherent and confused. At the outset of therapy the author felt that his main task was to translate the schizophrenic speech into normal talk. His efforts to attain this end resulted in frustration and boredom. At this point the patient's material was discussed at the weekly study seminar mentioned in the Introductory Communication by Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. This resulted in an improvement in the patient-therapist situation. Gradually the patient came to realize that his conception of the therapist as an expert translator of 'schizy talk' was unrealistic.
The obscurity of the patient's verbal communications reflected both his wish and his fear of a close relationship with the therapist. The therapist's task was not to undertake full responsibility for understanding everything the patient said. To do so would prevent independent development on the patient's part. The patient has to be encouraged to participate in the discovery of the hidden meanings in his speech. At times the patient does not know the meaning of what he is saying, but this is not invariably so. The author suggests that any given piece of schizophrenic speech is highly overdetermined. This has an important practical value in that it enables the therapist to throw off the anxiety lest he may not be making the correct translations of the patient's comments.
The remainder of the paper is taken up with examples of patients' remarks illustrating the tendency to regard words as objects, the use of speech to dramatize conflicting self conceptions, and the loss of the capacity to think abstractly.