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Article published In:
Metaphor in Mental Healthcare
Edited by Dennis Tay
[Metaphor and the Social World 10:2] 2020
► pp. 214–232

Strategies for using metaphor in psychological treatment

 | NT Psykiatri AB
In most models of psychotherapy metaphor is considered an important aspect of communication. At the same time there is a need for a rationale to tell the clinician with what purpose and how to use metaphor for the benefit of the client. The present article suggests such principles, specifically based on a behavioral approach to human language, relational frame theory (RFT). This approach has co-developed with a specific model of psychotherapy: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and the conclusions in this article are very much in line with that model. Overlap between RFT and a recent linguistic theory of metaphor, the dynamic approach, is also discussed.
Keywords: relational frame theory, acceptance and commitment therapy, dynamic metaphor approach
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Relational frame theory
    • 2.1Relational frame theory and metaphor
    • 2.2Relational frame theory and psychological treatment
  • 3.The joint venture of rule-following and self-awareness
  • 4.The blessing and the curse
  • 5.The remedy to “the dark side of the force”
  • 6.Why metaphor?
  • 7.Introducing metaphor to train psychological flexibility
  • 8.Catching metaphors to train psychological flexibility
  • 9.Metaphor, co-operation and building therapeutic alliance
  • 10.Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 13 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00004.tor
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