Therapeutic metaphor

Therapeutic metaphor is a type of conceptual metaphor presented as a story or other parallel to an entire aspect of a situation, related by a psychotherapist to a patient. The purpose of this is to highlight to a person, in an effective way, some aspects and lessons that otherwise they might not be able to perceive as clearly in their current situation, or to suggest new outlooks on it. Thus a therapist, told about the untimely death of a loved one, might respond by describing two roses in a garden, one of which is dug up.

Uses

Marsha Linehan highlights the utility of metaphor in her work with patients with borderline personality disorder: "the use of metaphor, in the form of simple analogies, anecdotes, parables, myths or stories, is extremely important in DBT. Metaphors are alternative means of teaching dialectical thinking and opening up possibilities of new behaviors. They encourage both patient and therapist to look for and create alternate meanings and points of reference for events under scrutiny." Her metaphors for radical acceptance (is like being a gardener learning to love the dandelions that come into the garden year after year, no matter what the gardener does to get rid of them) and therapy interfering behavior (is like a mountain climber refusing to wear winter gear when climbing in the snow) and suicidal behavior (is like the mountain climber jumping off the mountain, sometimes with the rope still tied to the guide) are particularly illustrative of the uses she has for metaphor.

Views

In his book, "Guru: Metaphors from a psychotherapist", Sheldon Kopp states: "Generally, a metaphor is defined as a way of speaking in which one thing is expressed in terms of another, whereby this bringing together throws new light on the character of what is being described." (p.17)

Two influential figures in modern use of metaphor are: George Lakoff, one of America's foremost linguists, and Milton Erickson, the so-called "father of modern hypnotherapy". [Scott Allen Wickman, M. Harry Daniels, Lyle J. White, and Steven A. Fesmire (1999) A "primer" in conceptual metaphor for counselors "Journal of Counseling and Development" vol. 77 no. 4 p.389-94] Both have emphasized strongly the crucial place that metaphor holds in human communication and experience. The use of therapeutic metaphor is discussed within neuro-linguistic programming circles.

Erickson, in particular, viewed much of human communication as metaphor, and metaphors that he used are often studied by hypnotherapists and others insofar as they communicate on so many levels simultaneously.

References

Marsha Linehan, "Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder" (1993: the Guilford Press, page 209).

External links

* [http://tscp.open.ac.uk/t185/html/resources/r2history.htm A short history of metaphor]
* [http://www.hypknowsis.com/M00_MetaphorTherapy.html Examples of therapeutic metaphors and transcripts of metaphor therapy]
* David Gordon, "Therapeutic Metaphors" (1978)
* John Grinder and Richard Bandler, "Trance-Formations", 1981
* Any of the many books by, or about, Milton Erickson, who was a dedicated user and creator of therapeutic metaphor. (See that article for bibliography)