Specialists committed to an examination of speech communication patterns have emphasized the interpersonal aspects of communication over the intrapsychic realities of various subjective statuses. If the rhetorical model operates at a psychological level, invention and disposition might be said to characterize the thinking mode, perhaps growing out of action or interaction, while memory, style, and delivery involve the successful management of the emotions. Rhetorical skills--which allow people to correctly assess their environment, to react to others, to interact successfully with the universe, and to withdraw or go inward to make subjective assessments of and contact with their inner selves--may be useful in achieving emotional equilibrium. Maintaining balance and equilibrium in one's own life may, admittedly, come down to something more than or different from rhetorical skills and/or coping mechanisms; yet this framework may suggest the continuing process of personal growth. (HOD)