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Speech comprises three functions: representation of things and the connections between them; expression of what is within one; appeal to another. Nunberg has stressed the patient's use of language as magic to influence others, and speech as a substitute for action. Resistance against verbalization of what is conscious may be due to fear of revealing intimate secrets, fear of loss of love, or fear of punishment. In his role as an auxiliary 'autonomous ego' to the patient, the analyst serves as an additional memory, helping to overcome such resistance. When this occurs, recounted material becomes more real to the analysand and interpretation more useful. Affects expressed in words become external as well as internal realities.
Verbalization is of great importance when analysis replaces acting out with ideas and then words. Resistance against verbalization may rise from the fear of being carried away by too much emotion. On the other hand, to put emotions into words may destroy the gratification hitherto achieved in the unverbalized experiencing of the affect. 'Both the discharge function and the binding function of verbalization underlie the curative effect of insight in analysis.' In achieving effective analytic insight, therefore, verbalization is essential.
Language also plays a decisive role in the formation and development of thought processes: in bringing to consciousness thoughts and affects that were previously unconscious, language becomes a kind of scaffolding on which conscious thoughts may be built.