Metaphors are used in everyday language and play a role in the therapeutic domain. "This paper: 1) Examines the linguistic structure of metaphors for its therapeutic relevance. 2) Introduces the concept and use of metaphoric kernel statements. 3) Describes strategic and tactical applications of metaphor in guided metaphoric: imagery work, storytelling and metaphoric tasks. 4) Demonstrates the efficacy of metaphor in treatment of cases of traumatic and highly anxiety-provoking issues.While metaphors have long been part of traditional healing methods, clinicians of diverse orientations are rediscovering their use in therapy. Erickson (1935; 1944) arid Kopp (1971; made significant contributions to the acceptance of this therapeutic technique. While psychoanalysts tend to interpret patient metaphors within an analytic framework (Sharpe, 1940;Sledge, 1977), some analysts have reported novel uses of patient metaphors (Aleksandrowicz, 1962; Caruth & Ekstein, 1966; Ekstein & Wallerstein, 1956;Ekstein & Wright, 1952; Reider, 1972).In this paper we examine the linguistic structure of metaphors and provide some conceptual clarity regarding their content, construction and clinical use. Hopefully this will open new and effective therapeutic avenues for clinicians by providing useful tools for planning, describing and analyzing their therapeutic work with metaphors. Secondly, we describe and analyze strategic and tactical approaches to the therapeutic use of metaphors.Strategic approaches utilize a single metaphor throughout the course of treatment. "Tactical applications use metaphors for more limited purposes within a wider treatment frame. In both tactical and strategic uses, we examine the characteristics of metaphoric imagery work, metaphoric stories and metaphoric statements generated by the therapist and the patient.Orthony, Reynolds and Arter (1978) remark: "Although metaphors occur . . . at the level of' individual sentences, the really crucial role they play is in systems. We may call them extended metaphors or analogies, or even metaphorical models." These are common in psychotherapy. Individual metaphoric sentences such as metaphoric kernel statements (Fernandez, 1977) also play a significant role in forming the point of departure for extended metaphors.
T e r m i n o l o g y : L i n g u i s t ic V i e w s o n M e t a p h o r sAccording to Richards (1936), simple metaphors ("George is a lion.") consist of two terms and the relationship between them. Richards calls the subject terns "George," the tonic or terror, while "lion," the term used metaphorically, is the vehicle. The relationship, or what the two have in common, Richard labels the grounds. Fernandez (1977) notes that tenor and vehicle belong to different domains, i.e., the literal domain and the metaphoric domain. The tenor, commonly a human being, has an abstract quality made more specific by the vehicle. In therapy, the tenor is most often the patient himself. "I am allergic to this world," a patient proclaims, wearing four sweaters in the mi...