"The semantic differential method was used to examine certain cognitive aspects of the rehabilitation process in a hospital for people with chronic physical illnesses. The factors of age, sex, length of time in the hospital, participation in an intensive treatment program, and improvement in physical and occupational therapy were investigated. Each variable was analyzed in terms of the "semantic distance" between patients and occupational and physical therapists. Among the findings were the following: The group of patients hospitalized more than one year were significantly different from the group of patients hospitalized less than one year in terms of directly expressed semantic associations, perhaps because of an increased indifference on the part of the former group. "Semantic distance" between patient and therapist was found to be significantly reduced under conditions of intensive treatment.