using metaphors in psychotherapy and coaching
TRANSCRIPT
Metaphors in Psychotherapy and Coaching
by LUCIA TREZOVA Prague, August 2015
Metaphor is originally a figure of speech
based on resemblance = one thing is used
to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are somehow similar
METAPHOR IS A TYPE OF ANALOGY
„Knowledge is power“
„You are my star“
WHAT ABOUT VISUAL METAPHORS?
Since metaphors don’t have to be only verbal, the essence of the metaphor is: experiencing one thing
or thinking about one thing in terms of another
What is a metaphor’s
structure ?
EACH METAPHOR CONSISTS OF TWO ELEMENTS: A TARGET AND A SOURCE
Both: the target and the source are part of, in principle, infinitely expanding networks of related meanings, necessary for producing
metaphors, called connotations
The target (tenor) is what we try to describe, to make a meaning of by using a metaphor
The source is a „vehicle“, the concept that is used to predicate something about the target
Metaphors connect two conceptual domains: the target domain and the source domain.
The target and the source are parts of networks of connotations:
Consider the metaphor: „LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD“
„Love“ is a target „ Battlefield“ is a source.
These networks of connotations are based on individual meanings and cultural meanings
Love concept includes connotations
such as: „lovers“ and „passion“, and „sex“, „inspirations“, „creativity“, „respect“, „marriage“, „children:, but also „sacrifices“ and „cheating“, „victims“, „reason to revenge“, „losses“, „grief“, „misery“,„hurts“, etc.
Battlefield concept includes
connotations such as: „war“ „soldiers“, „wounds“, „pain“, „sorrow“, „victories“, „defeats“, „weapons“, „fighting strategies“, „ally-making“, „victims“, „hurts“ etc.
By metaphors we are
invited or often even forced
to see and think of
a TARGET „A“ in terms of a SOURCE „B“
...BECAUSE „A“ IS LIKE „B“
How are metaphors
construed ?
“…when we use a metaphor we have two thoughts of different things active together and supported by a single word or phrase whose meaning is a result of their interaction." „The resulting meaning is new and transcends both thoughts.“ Richards (1936)
3 COGNITIVE PROCESSES ENABLE TO CONSTRUE METAPHORS AND WORK WITH METAPHORS:
1. MAPPING
2. TRANSFERENCE
3. EXPANDING CATEGORIES
love battlefield
Mappable feature
from „battlefield“
Expanding categories and making inferences Projecting mapped feature and transference
to „love“
+
+ METAPHOR CONSTRUCTION
There must be some sort of similarity between the
target and the source which enables metaphor-making.
That is, at least one feature, of all their features, the source
and the target must have common.
This common feature tightly associated with the source is
then projected = mapped into the target.
PROCESS OF MAPPING
from „battlefield“ .......................... to „love“
war making victims, causing losses and misery, being costly in terms of material or in terms of lives, = A HIGH CHANCE OF BEING HURT
... to be a victim of grief love causing depression, losses and misery = A HIGH CHANCE OF BEING HURT
To understand the metaphor „Love is a battlefield“ we
must take an imaginative leap to recognize the
resemblance to which a metaphor alludes.
Thus, using and understanding metaphors involves a
function of „transference“ - transferring certain qualities from one object – the source to another object –the target.
PROCESS OF TRANSFERENCE
from „Battlefield“ to „Love“
When the mapped feature is recognized and transferred, then all meanings related to both domains: the source and the target must be called in a play.
That is, each category is mentally expanded to include
connotations linked to it: all emotions, attitudes, norms, knowledge, etc. creating the dense networks of meanings.
PROCESS OF EXPANDING CATEGORIES
ONLY THOSE RELATED AND INTERCONNECTED MEANINGS
ENABLE US TO CONSTRUE THE RICH AND PRODUCTIVE METAPHOR
These networks of connoted meanings must be „stored in our heads“
Some meanings are purely personal, some are widely shared - cultural
IN PSYCHOTERAPY and COACHING INDIVIDUAL MEANINGS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS CULTURAL ONES
Personal meanings are rooted in a
person’s background, individual experiences, personal history, individual knowledge and beliefs, family history, etc.
Cultural meanings are rooted in
culture: in cultural knowledge, norms and attitudes, in society
history, literature, art, pop-culture, etc.
To create a metaphor for a wider audience - cultural meanings are crucial
But when using metaphor in therapy or coaching we can draw also on purely individual meanings specific to, and understandable only to our
client
What causes that metaphors are understood rather
consistently?
CONTEXT
In our case – the therapy or coaching context and client’s purely individual context
There are 2 different
perspectives how to
comprehend metaphors:
What is a metaphor? The view of a linguist: Metaphors are simply rhetoric figures which make our language or speech more impressive, more engaging, interesting, more persuasive, more poetic, etc. Metaphors represent a style how we express ourselves. Thus they belong to the to the of our language, writings, speech… …based on similarities – A is like B, therefore we talk about object „A“ using the object „B“, etc… so simple… „She is beautiful like a rose“ „I feel like standing at liquid sand“
LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
form
Another and the more
radical way how to look at
metaphors says, that:
According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003): metaphors are not just a
form of speech, language, but rather, their fundamental Metaphors are crucial elements of our thoughts – they are the
essence of our cognitive concepts, therefore they determine how we perceive the world, how we mentally organize the world, how we understand the world.
How we talk about reality. And how we consequently act in reality.
Metaphors are our tacit cognitive constructs, our implicit theories about the world, through which we relate to the world and handle the
world. Often without being fully aware of it. Because relation of analogy, thus the whole metaphor often remains fully implicit.
METAFORY METAPHORS ARE OUR FUNDAMENTAL COGNITIVE
ELEMENTS
content
„My brain is shut down“ „His digestive system must be cured“ “Human resource management is like a black box“ (double metaphor) „Invisible hand of market will take care of it best“
What is unsaid but present here…?
What assumptions are absent, but
implicit…?
Based on previous, metaphors are deeply pervasive – they are not present and manifested only in language, they are embedded in, and
pervade our thinking. They are our basal mental constructs: e.g.: „man - machine“; „knowledge is power“ „Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature“ . „If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor“ (Lakoff, Johnson, 2008).
1. Strong metaphors form scientific models (Descartes’ dualistic and
materialistic view on a human body is for years valid in an allopathic medicine)
2. Models of reality (if „ life is a battle“ so, similarly to a war it is allowed to
hurt, destroy, to be ruthless, etc.)
METAFORY METAPHORS AS DEFINITIONS OF REALITY – AS GUIDES
AROUND REALITY...
Ways how to perceive and describe reality
Models of reality, implicit theories to approach the world, to understand it, to make sense of it, to explain it (including causality)
„Instructions“ , „guides“ through reality
Models to create self-concept, self-identity and models how to relate to other people
Basis how to solve conflict life situations
Sources to legitimate important values, attitudes and reasons to spread them and to perpetuate them
METAPHORS ARE INSIDE US, IN OUR CULTURE,
THEY ENCOMPASS US.... METAPHORS ARE:
Why are metaphors so
powerful in
communication?
METAPHORS INCREASE INFORMATION RETENTION AND ENHANCE ITS RECALL
Metaphors are by our brains processed differently than literal speech
Cognitive scientists proved by fMRI, that words describing motion highlight our motor cortex. While listening to sentences containing textural metaphors, they found activity in the part of the brain that’s involved when we feel surfaces. When the metaphor alludes on the smell, the olfactory area of the brain is being activated, and so on.
The more parts of the brain are engaged with a given content, the higher number of neuronal associations is made = MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FUTURE RETRIEVAL
METAPHORS SPARK OFF OUR IMAGINATION...
One insightful rich metaphor triggers the chain of associations, meanings, images, memories, that all together not only hooks the recipient’s attention and curiosity, but also activate the process of thinking, of imaginations, of making new links and connections which may result in a brand new discovery.
Metaphors are fantasy provoking
METAPHORS ARE CONVINCING...
Metaphors are shortcuts to our sub-consciousness Emotions that metaphors generate often tackle our inner,
primary, fundamental feelings, linked to our basic human desires and needs. These feelings are often hardly accessible by our conscious mind, thus beyond our rational consideration. Their targeting have, therefore, an extremely strong persuasive power.
Metaphor provides holistic, instant and intuitive definition of the target (object).
One insightful metaphor can explain the target in its full complexity, in its wholeness, defying clearly the object and therefore to help foster the adoption to new ideas, concepts, theories, attitudes, habits.
METAPHORS ALLOW GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TARGET CONCEPT
Metaphors accelerate adoption
METAPHORS SAVE TIME
People see more things than they can describe with words
Therefore one exposure to image-evoking
metaphoric representation using mindful analogy saves us a lot of time of clarifying the metaphor’s target: relations of its parts, its usage, relationships to other objects, ideas and so on.
Linking your metaphor’s target with an „unexpected“ metaphor's source or mapping so far „unexplored“ feature may illuminate the different, so far neglected characteristic of your target or even cause discovery of brand new understanding, generating true „aha“ experience.
METAPHORS CAN PROVIDE AN UNIQUE VIEW ON AN ORDINARY THING
Metaphor awakes creativity
Some metaphors can create so firm models of reality (e.g. „Life is war“), that they will determine all others associated attitudes and justify our consequent behavior.
Some metaphors may even become
scientific models (Descartes’ model „humans as machines“ affect not only allopathic medicine, but also e.g. attitudes toward people in organizations: people as „human resources“).
METAPHORS CREATE AND LEGITIMIZE INDIVIDUAL AND CULTURAL NORMS
Metaphors are words we live by
By metaphor you can intentionally trick your audience: you can choose which ideas, situational or behavioral elements or characters’ features you show, stress highlight and which you neglect and even hide.
METAPHORS ARE MANIPULATIVE
Metaphors contain ideology
Use of the powerful metaphor in the beginning of your presentation (or therapeutic session) might create so strong context, that all other information, opinions presented will be perceived and processed under the influence of this opening metaphor.
METAPHORS CREATE STRONG CONTEXTS
Metaphors are paradigm shapers
METAPHORS IN PSYCHOTERAPY
AND COACHING
Repetition: EACH METAPHOR CONSISTS OF TWO ELEMENTS: A TARGET AND A SOURCE
The target (tenor) is what we try to describe, to make a meaning of by using metaphor.
The source is a „vehicle“, the concept that is used to predicate something about the target.
Metaphors connect two conceptual domains: the target domain and the source domain.
Target is most often the client (patient) himself: his/her
relationship toward the word or his/her relationship toward the
others or his/her life situation
Target (tenor) in psychotherapy and coaching
Therapist / coach generated
He/she formulates the metaphor based
on clients description of his/her life,
situation, problem, etc.
Client generated Client formulates the metaphor as
a description and understanding of
his/her situation, problem,
difficulties, etc.
METAPHOR may be:
1. Metaphors that represent one’s image of self: I am the dried-up fountain“ , „I am walking dead“; „I feel like an alien
among people“.
2. Metaphors that represent one’s image of others „My boss is a locomotive barging into the office“.
3. Metaphors that represent one’s understanding of self toward others – relationships
“We are at a cross roads”, “We were made for each other” ,
4. Metaphors that represent one’s understanding of situations “I’m sinking.” „I feel like Alice in Wonderland“. „I am in the dead-end street“. „Dice was cast“.
Metaphors applied in therapy and coaching
• Short sentences, anecdotes, aphorism
• Stories told by a therapists or a coach
• Visualizations and guided imagination – Imagine all your troubles putting into balloon basket and picture
this basket flying away
• Homework: rituals, tasks to fulfill are often metaphorical in
nature – Write all your troubles on the paper and then burn it
• Externalizations are the typical metaphors used in a narrative
approach
Forms of metaphors in a therapy and coaching
WORKING WITH METAPHORS…
Application and use of metaphors in
therapeutic or coaching process
Metaphorical „kernel statements“
• Often used in the beginning of the process by client as a definition of the situation, problem…
„I feel trapped“. „I feel like a dried-up tree“
• Kernel (core, root) metaphors express something essential – the theme – often the core of the
whole therapy or coaching
• Excellent point of departure - must be picked up by a therapist or a coach
• One single kernel metaphor may be use throughout the whole coaching or therapy process
• Therapists or choaches may use their own imagery – offering metaphors, but helping clients to create
their own images is usually more effective
• When changes occur, these statements are also modified, thus becoming the indicators of successful
therapeutical or coaching processes
• One patient said: „I dont want to show all the dirt inside me“.
Near the end of the therapy she said: „ I feel very clean inside“.
Metaphorical „solutions“
• Some believe that formulating a metaphor is already a first step of a creative and solving process
• Haynes (1975) believes that the new insights provided by a good metaphor suggests further
questions, "tempting us to formulate hypotheses which turn out to be „experimentally fertile„ -
leading to solutions
• Therapists or coaches may via metaphor suggest some solution to the clients’ problems in the form
of stories, short sentences, or by referring to other clients’ situation, etc. At the best - as possible
alternatives
• Or even bettter – therapist or coach can by questioning work-out client’s metaphor developing with
clients „solution mataphor“ - helping clients to formulate via metaphors their own solutions – the
ways out of the problematic situations
• Patient said: „I feel trapped in a vicious little circle like a cat chasing its own tail“
• Therapist asked: „Can you change your direction so that you don’t return to the same point?“
Metaphorical „actions“
• Haynes (1975) suggests that good metaphors can literally lead to reasoning by
analogy. Metaphoric thinking can be a creative activity heading to solving client’s
situation - first metaphorically, then in everyday reality
• Metaphorically altering negative experience in ways that promote adaptation and
positive self-regard” (changing the story) is another way of action
• Fernandez (1977) states that metaphoric statements represent metaphoric images,
which he considers plans of action. Helping clients bring their metaphoric images
back to life stimulates them to further develop these plans of action and eventually to
implement them
• Rituals – burning bad days in a box, destroying remorse written on the paper, burying
grief and letting it go, coming out of cave by performing special ritual, re-birth of
relationships by a new honey-moon, metaphoric drawings, writing letters, etc.
Metaphorical „indirect approach“ to severe trauma (PTSD) in a therapy
• For clients who are not able to deal with a severe trauma directly
• Metaphoric approach is „safer“ – more acceptable way for patients to
talk about and to handle extremely traumatic experiences
• The whole psychotherapy process can be performed via working on
metaphor without even mentioning the real life trauma experience
• Less physiological reactions and uncontrolled emotions (loss of
control, outburst, fuga)
Metaphorical „interpretations“
• Often used in the psychoanalytic approach: metaphors are interpreted
by the therapist to the client via the „rational clarification“ and
explanations - „what they really mean“
• In the narrative approach this is not used – what is used is the opposite
direction - from the literal (rational) meaning to the metaphoric meaning,
images…
• Patient - war veteran, who survived bad battle because hiding in some gulch for hours,
all his friends died, is not able to function in normal life – become isolated, spending
time at home, alone
• Terapist: „Actually you are hiding in a shelter. You really want to go out, but you can-
not." The patient immediately became pale and began to sweat, indicating that the core
problem in the trauma had been identified.
Metaphor as a „bridge to the client“
• For establishing rapport - to connect empathically with clients
• Via metaphor therapists or coaches can show that they understand
client’s situation - the matching metaphor may be an opening story
or a closing story of the session
• With clients who do not want to or are not able to open fully for
cooperation – sent by bosses for coaching, by social services or by
a court for psychotherapy
• Story in the beginning - in therapy with children
TWO PROTOCOLS FOR METAPHOR ELABORATION
Sims’s and Whynot’s
(2003) six-stage model
Kopp and Craw’s
(1998) seven-step
interview protocol
Which we elaborate further….
„Just as metaphor is the source of novelty and change in language, exploring and transforming a person’s metaphoric imagery can be a source of novelty and change in life”
1. Notice a metaphor generated by the client. Write it down
2. Ask the client to transform the verbal metaphor into the visual image. Let the client
describe this visual image
3. Explore with the client his/her image in all possible sensory modality – in very detail
– auditory sensation, visual sensation, tactile, etc.
4. Ask the client about feelings connected to the metaphor
5. Ask the client to change the image in any way he/she would like it. Elaborate it with
the client
6. Ask the client about connections (parallels) between the original metaphoric image
and his/her current life situation
7. Elaborate with the client modified metaphoric image and its possible application to
his/her life situation
KOPP AND CRAW’S SEVEN-STEP INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
• Metaphor can be produced by the client spontaneously during his/her standard description of his/her problem. Watch for it. Be sensitive to it. Don't let the metaphor slip away
• Write the metaphor down
• If the client does not formulate any metaphor you, as a therapist or the coach, can ask the client to create one
1. NOTICING A METAPHOR GENERATED BY THE CLIENT
TRANSFORMING THE VERBAL METAPHOR INTO THE VISUAL IMAGE
• For metaphor to be worked-out it is important that verbal expression is converted into visual image
• Ask the client: „When you think of (…..) what image comes to your mind? ” When you say that (……) what kind of image can you see?
2.
• Elaborate with the client the metaphor in very detail
• Ask about auditory sensation, visual sensation, tactile, etc.
• It is important to avoid adding new (own) content, so you should ask open ended questions such as:
• “What else do you see?” „What do you hear?, What else is going on, What led up to this image?, What happens next?, How does it turn out?, What else is going on in the image?, What are the other people doing, saying, thinking“?
• The point is for the clients to immerse themselves in sensory imagery and based on the metaphor to create a story
3. EXPLORING THE METAPHORIC IMAGE IN ALL SENSORY MODALITIES
• Once the clients are fully immersed in the image, clients are invited to describe feelings associated with the metaphoric image
• Ask clients how they feel, what kind of feelings the image is bringing, provoking
• It’s important to note that at this stage feelings are not related to “real life,” but purely to the metaphoric image itself
4. FEELINGS CONNECTED TO THE METAPHOR
CHANGING THE METAPHORIC IMAGE
• Next, the client is invited to change the metaphor using the following words: “If you could change the image in any way how would you change it?“
• The modified image is then described by the client in detail
5.
• Only after the client changes the image does the therapist or coach bridge back to the original image and explore the parallels and connections between his or her metaphoric exploration and the client’s current life situation
• You can ask: „What kind of analogy can you see between the original (first) metaphoric image and your current life situation? What kind of a resemblance or a similarity can you see?“
6. LOOKING FOR PARALLELS BETWEEN ORIGINAL IMAGE AND CLIENTS’ LIFE SITUATION
APPLICATION OF MODIFIED IMAGE TO THE CLIENT’s LIFE SITUATION
• The new, modified image may be the source of a new experience, a base for a new perspective of looking at the problem enabling creative solution
• In this final step ask the client if the way in which the image was changed earlier offers any insight into how the client might change his/her current situation
7.
Sources • Lakoff, g., Johnson, M. : Metaphors We Live By, 2003.
• Richards, I.A. (1936). The philosophy of rhetoric. London: Oxford University Press.
• Dennis Tay Metaphor in Psychotherapy: A descriptive and prescriptive analysis, 1998.
• http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235766423_Applying_the_Notion_of_Metaphor_Types_to_Enhance_Counseling_Protocols
• http://www.onnovdhart.nl/articles/metaphoric_symb_img.pdf
• http://www.researchgate.net/publication/253853518_The_use_of_metaphors_in_psychotherapy
