ABSTRACT
To understand nature in any of its myriad of manifestations, we have no choice but to select for study those features we believe to be most cogent for comprehending its mysteries. As a rule, effective dimensions tend to involve ever-present variables that are relatively mundane yet profoundly capable of representing in deeply meaningful fashion the complex transactions that we intend to investigate. This chapter presents some basic tenets that can provide us with the minimal conceptual context for studying the basic aspects of the therapeutic process. The tenets include: human beings are adaptive organisms; humans cope with emotionally charged triggers with both conscious and unconscious adaptations—behaviourally and communicatively; with regard to language or verbal communication, conscious adaptations are reflected in manifest, directly stated, surface messages, while unconscious adaptations are reflected in latent, indirectly stated, disguised or encoded messages; and adaptation is always direct and immediate.
