Language as a saboteur: The case of "case management"

The authors examine how the term case management-and, more generally, langu age-may function as a saboteur of psychotherapeutic meaning and foster the objectification of the clinical process and participant. The authors hope t o foster awareness of the implications of word choices and thereby reduce t he negative side effects accompanying the unintended meanings of these choi ces. More generally, the authors argue that curiosity, creativity, and the clinical process are deadened when language is allowed to function as a sab oteur. The authors suggest an approach to clinical work that brings a heigh tened awareness of the power and ambiguity of words.