Metaphor: The Impossible Translation?

Abstract

The linguistic concept‘metaphor’ has an established place in clinical as well as theoretical psychotherapy. It has been seen as analogous to or even fundamental to the analytic concept of transference. Metaphors have been thought to have a special role in enhancing therapist‐patient communications. By contrast, in linguistics itself, metaphor has been relatively neglected, viewed as irrelevant and unscientific. That conventional approach to metaphor has recently been challenged by Contemporary Metaphor Theory. This new theory suggests that language depends upon a largely unconscious system of conventional metaphor. Our bodily experiences are the basis of our understanding of abstract concepts such as emotions and relationships. Novel and imaginative metaphors build upon this fundamental biological structure. The traditional approach placed metaphor, along with rhetoric and, by inference, psychodynamic thinking, at the periphery of science. Cognitive linguistic research is now showing that language is fundamentally structured by metaphorical processes, which enhances the scientific status of psychoanalysis and supports and extends the view of metaphor as at the heart of language and meaning.

Schema Therapy: The Healthy Adult Meets Sherlock Holmes—An Enactivist and Embodied Cognition Perspective of Metaphor

“…As a result of the above, it is not surprising that metaphor has been referred to as the most important therapeutic tool available to psychotherapists (Törneke, 2017)-"the language of change" (Muran & DiGiuseppe, 1990: p. 69) that enhances therapist-client communication (Eynon, 2001) and shapes the psychotherapeutic process by structuring the therapist's perception, stance, and attitude (Berlin et al, 1991). Conceptualized as a technique that becomes part of the therapist's repertoire of interventions, therapist-generated metaphors "provide a tool to further guide and support clients in the pursuit of their goals" (Wagener, 2017: p. 153).…”

The Healthy Adult in Schema Therapy: Using the Octopus Metaphor

“…Metaphors have also been described as devices that organize emotional experience (Crawford, 2009;Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), and "their use in cognitive restructuring can help maximise the effect of therapy information" (Hu et al, 2018: p. 414). Not surprisingly, metaphor has been referred to as the most important therapeutic tool available to psychotherapists (Törneke, 2017), "the language of change" (Muran & DiGiuseppe, 1990: p. 69) that enhances therapist-client communication (Eynon, 2001), and shapes the psychotherapeutic process by structuring therapists' perception, stance, and attitude (Berlin et al, 1991). Metaphors can be client-centred or generated, or therapist-centred or generated (Tay, 2016).…”