A hermeneutic analysis of metaphor in a successful case of Psychotherapy

Metaphor has received considerable attention in the psychoanalytic literature on the process of psychotherapy. Empirical studies of metaphor in therapy, however, have yielded suggestive but inconclusive results. If not all novel metaphors are clinically relevant and some frozen ones are, clinical relevance itself becomes the criterion. The present study undertook to describe a successful case of psychotherapy, which would permit distinguishing those metaphors which were relevant to it and observing about how they contributed to it.

Analyzing the transcript yielded a hierarchical thematic structure, at whose highest level there was a single pervasive theme. This theme depicted the patient's situation in a way that gathered all themes at lower levels of the hierarchy together. This central issue became clear as the therapy proceeded and came to be represented in a novel and striking metaphor. Some lower level themes also had a striking metaphoric representation.

The novel metaphors which contributed to the therapy were thematic. They were produced directly, with prior development in the theme but not in the metaphor itself. Recurrence was not seen as a necessary criterion of importance. The thematic metaphors were not repeated more often than non-thematic ones. The process of explication was not para phrasing into literal language but rather by incorporating particular concrete situations into the overriding theme.

Frozen metaphors were observed which represented concrete and static dimensions of the patient's self-world. They provided the iv ground from which the themes emerged. Being unobtrusive, they were not thematized in the therapy but might profitably have been so.

The therapist's metaphors also contributed to the dialogue, but instances were observed where they created misunderstanding. The therapist used metaphor to emphasize and to thematize. The instances of misunderstanding imply that clinicians should be circumspect in using their own metaphors, which may not accurately represent the patient's experience.