ABSTRACT
Psychotherapists generally refer to the people they work with in therapy as either patients or clients. The former appellation is usually preferred by those therapists trained in a medical or psychoanalytic setting, whereas the latter is more often used by those who identify themselves more with a nonmedical, “humanistic” orientation. There is nothing inherently correct about the use of either term per se, although each may have certain implications for the conduct of therapy. The purpose of this brief communication is to highlight some of those implications, to enhance awareness of the assumptions that may underlie the choice of language and thus influence therapeutic action and effectiveness. Some other aspects of the use of names in therapy have been discussed by Cath (1975), Selzer (1960), and Mitchell (1976).
