This textbook on palliative social work is a companion volume to the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine and the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing. To that end, this chapter will accomplish the following:

♦Although intended to clarify, the words we choose in our verbal and written communication also have the potential to confuse and complicate matters for colleagues, patients, and families.

♦Social workers are trained to listen for and raise consciousness of the implicit and explicit messages in palliative care communication.

♦Palliative and end-of-life communication has integrated words and unique phrases that require clinical attention to insure that their meaning and intention are clear to patients and families.

♦Illness and specific diseases such as cancer are replete with metaphors that may or may not be therapeutic and congruent with the values and personhood of patients and families.

♦Metaphors may provide insight into the cognitive and emotional aspects of the illness experience and can help make sense of behaviors, emotional responses, and decisions.

♦Vigilance to the language and metaphors used by patients, families, and professionals creates opportunities for a range of clinical interventions.