Talking about illness is not easy. Despite recent medical advancements, diagnosis of a serious illness still comes crashing into our world and turns our lives upside down. So we turn to each other for support. "Healthy" conversations can help reduce anxiety and increase levels of hope, but those types of conversations do not happen easily. We need to learn how to better say it like it is. A body of communication theory called "General Semantics" can help us better respond to these challenges. It offers us ways to choose our words wisely to better insure shared meaning, and it reminds us how the verbal "maps" we create and share with others affects the ways we think and behave. It's so easy for us to literally talk ourselves into negative feelings and overall despair. But it does not have to be that way. Discussion strategies housed within this book can help us better say what we mean, which, in turn, can help us face our illness challenges with less anxiety and renewed hope. - from back cover.