ABSTRACT
Many of us grew up with the saying, “Sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never hurt you.” In the world we all live in, however, words have tremendous impact, as recently documented in the book, The Right Words at the Right Time (Thomas, 2002), which tells the stories of remarkable men and women across multiple professions and walks of life for whom words spoken in conversations at the right time changed their lives. Similarly, Acosta and Prager (2002) described how “Verbal First Aid” (p. xix)—that is, the right words at the right time by doctors and emergency personnel in traumatic situations—can alter the outcomes through physiological and emotional changes in patients and victims.
