When Skill and Wisdom Merge

Abstract

Sam Hamburg's (2018) case studies of the use of metaphoric tasks in psychotherapy take us into the storied course of therapy with "Margie" and with "Amy." In the nuances of Hamburg's accounts of these two sometimes similar, often different case studies, we see how metaphoric tasks can be conceived, implemented, and understood, and how the sensory-evoking, relationship-enhancing potential of metaphor can be enacted. We also see at work a deeply committed, thoughtful, and skilled practitioner-researcher who is, at once, cautious in his claims about the relation between metaphor use and therapy outcome, confident in what he knows about the practice of psychotherapy, and wise in his integration of the two.Key words: comment; metaphoric tasks; use of metaphor in psychotherapy; case studies; clinical case studies ______________________________________________________________________________ Like a compelling metaphor, Sam Hamburg's (2018) case studies are elegant, evocative, multi-layered, and generative. He has written in beautifully rich detail, with care and compassion, and with convincing openness and self-reflection about his use of metaphoric tasks in each of two courses of psychotherapy. Apart from what his narratives of the two cases can tell us about the use of metaphor in psychotherapy, they exemplify elements of contemporary metaphor theorizing in action, foreground important learnings from psychotherapy research and practice, and speak to questions of evidence and knowing.