Volume 40, Issue 1/4, 2024
Signs of Rebirth and Renewal
Michael L. Raposa
Pages 87-98
https://doi.org/10.5840/ajs202542393
Semiotics and Psychotherapy
The practice of psychotherapy involves the careful interpretation of certain thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as potential of some disorder or maladjustment, in order to facilitate treatment. That treatment itself involves the exchange of signs within a process of verbal communication and interaction. This article will explore some resources in semiotic theory that might be useful for understanding the nature and purpose of psychotherapy. My attention will be directed not exclusively but primarily to Peirce¡¯s theory of signs and semiosis as a potential resource, and to contemporary third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies as the focus of my analysis.