Psychology has traditionally had little to do with the treatment of people with schizophrenia. The fact that psychologists are not specifically trained to work with people with schizophrenia is one explanation for their lack of involvement. While therapists pay close attention to nonverbal cues, it is the verbal communication which is an essential feature of the client-therapist relationship. When language goes awry, as it often does in schizophrenia, the global therapeutic task of understanding the client does not alter. However, the ways in which the therapist listens become more complex and challenging. The elementary nature of language coupled with the disordered verbal behavior of many people with schizophrenia makes it an obvious place to enter the world of the individual with schizophrenia. This dissertation illustrates one way for psychologists to be more involved in the treatment of people with schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia demonstrate a variety of impairments in their language. Metaphorical expression is one of the characteristics of impaired schizophrenic speech. Although there is a paucity of empirical research on metaphor and schizophrenia, a few anecdotal and theoretical writings (e.g., Davidson, 1993; Kitayama 1987; Shulman 1990) do exist which support inquiry into understanding the metaphorical content of schizophrenic language, formerly believed to be only nonsensical. The ability to recognize and understand the communicative efforts of impaired language is one way in which psychologists may engage with people with schizophrenia. Moreover, the comprehension of the metaphorical content in schizophrenic language is a tool for active therapeutic intervention. This dissertation traced the psychological history of how schizophrenic language has been viewed. An explanation was elucidated with respect to how metaphor may go awry in the schizophrenic brain. A paradigm was developed to train psychology students at the doctoral level in how to recognize and understand the metaphorical content of schizophrenic language, and then to use this newly-gained knowledge as therapeutic intervention. Finally, a model to evaluate the actual training was discussed. (LLBA 2000, vol. 34, n. 5)