Applying the Notion of Metaphor Types to Enhance Counseling Protocols

Abstract

This article introduces the notion of metaphor types to show how the more nuanced aspects of metaphor theory can be applied to counseling practice. The author suggests that metaphor types can enhance existing interview protocols designed to help clients expand the source domain imagery of their metaphors and “bridge back” the expanded imagery to identified target issues. A sample analysis of a counseling transcript is provided to illustrate the recommended steps in applying metaphor types.

Approaches to Language, Culture, and Cognition

“…Possible avenues to extend this research would be to further analyse how the use of hedges varies between therapists and patients, and across different types of therapies and socio-cultural contexts of therapy (Dwairy, 2009;Wohl, 1989). Furthermore, a keener understanding of the cognitive, discursive, and interactional properties of metaphor in the 'real world' context of psychotherapy may contribute towards better use and management of metaphors for therapeutic purposes (Tay, 2012). It has been argued that psychotherapists need to be more aware of the relevance of theoretical advancements in the study of language and its cognitive, socio-cultural, and discursive aspects (McMullen, 1996(McMullen, , 2008Teasdale, 1993).…”

Bodily experience as both source and target of meaning making

“…These observations dovetail upon the programmatic claim that cognitive linguistic analysis of discourse should always be sensitive to its "messy realities" (Eubanks 1999: 174), and remain constantly mindful of implications raised by discourse analysis for cognitive linguistic theorisation. Psychotherapy is an example of a discourse context where cognition, language, and discourse naturally converge, and where metaphors are known to be used for a variety of strategic purposes (Tay 2012(Tay , 2013(Tay , 2014. The next section details the use of metaphor in psychotherapy, how the therapeutic literature has been inspired by Conceptual Metaphor Theory, and how the particular case of psychotherapy for PTSD raises the kind of implications presently discussed.…”

The Nuances of Metaphor Theory for Constructivist Psychotherapy

“…These theoretical differences may, at first glance, seem remote from therapeutic realities, but each mode of constructing source-target relationships does appear more suited to a certain desired or appropriate form of communication. Interested readers may refer to Tay (2012), who applied these Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 09:20 01 June 2016 D. TAY ideas to specific metaphor protocols-namely, Kopp and Craw's seven-step interview protocol and Sims and Whynot's six-stage model (1997).…”