7 therapeutic metaphors that will help us understand everything better

Metaphors are a very widespread resource in therapy. According to Stephen R. Lankton, A metaphor is a linguistic form that makes an implicit comparison between two different entities.. It has been proven that in the therapeutic context metaphors are an essential element for changes in the patient to occur at a deeper level.

However, like any other therapeutic tool, it must be used correctly to be effective. Let’s see what characteristics it should have, some examples and other aspects. Don’t miss anything, because the power of language is great when it comes to delving into the mind.

Effective characteristics of therapeutic metaphors

Metaphors, logically, must have a series of characteristics (beyond their literary function) that allow them to be useful in therapy. The features to take into account are the following:

The metaphor must be understandable and adapted to the patient’s level of understanding. The recipient must feel identified with the elements of the metaphor. The resource must capture the situation in which the patient finds himself and relate the steps that are needed to resolve the problem. problem. It must also offer, even if abstractly, a way out of the problem presented.

Benefits of therapeutic metaphors

If used appropriately, therapeutic metaphors can be a very useful resource for addressing different problems. Among its benefits are:

Allows you to formulate or exemplify an opinion: Given the characteristics of metaphors, the patient is able to establish a powerful and memorable opinion. Well, it is easier to remember a metaphor and its implicit message than when it is a common statement.Facilitates the identification of novel solutions: When using metaphors, the subject can raise conclusions from a novel perspective or identify a previously ignored solution.Promotes access and utilization of resources: Resources are a part that already exists in people’s experience. Among them are feelings, perceptions, personal knowledge, attitudes and behaviors.Metaphors can create a context in which the person will respond with them: For example, when representing a situation in another environment other than the problematic one, the subject is more likely to think about his or her resources when generating responses.Helps people recognize themselves as they are: Metaphors create a situation in which one can recognize oneself, indirectly, instead of being confronted directly.They plant new ideas: Metaphors are a good communication resource for the propagation of new ideas; which are capable of leading to the expected achievement.They are a way to avoid resistance: Metaphors stimulate the patient’s own conceptual associations. In this way, it is more difficult to resist an association that one has established oneself than one made by the therapist.They facilitate new patterns of thinking, feelings and behaviors: Finally, metaphors can be used to construct or facilitate new emotions, thoughts and behaviors of the individual, so that they enrich different aspects of their life.

They are also useful when created by the patient

Encouraging the patient to create metaphors to express themselves can be helpful. As a 2019 article published in the journal Pain and Rehabilitation has shown, this figure of speech has therapeutic value for people with chronic pain, one of the most difficult sensations to express through ordinary language due to its subjectivity.

On the other hand, metaphors are also very useful for children who suffer from trauma. When having difficulties connecting with the traumatic memory and processing it, a metaphor adapted to the infant’s age allows the experience to be explored from a safer perspective.

Some metaphors that we can use in therapy

The use of metaphors is common in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Studies like the one carried out by doctors, Eliezer Witztum and Onno van der Hart, for example, states that the use of these resources is highly effective, especially when it comes to anxiety disorders.

To better understand this strategy, let’s look below at some examples of metaphors that can help us. Do not miss it.

1. The metaphor of the two climbers

Climbers climbing a mountain, one of the metaphors used in therapy.

Imagine that you and your therapist are two climbers, each climbing a different mountain, but close by. The therapist can see a path that can help you climb your mountain betterbut not because he is smarter than you, nor because he has climbed it before, but because he is in a position where he can see things that you cannot see right now.

Finally, although the therapist shows the way, you are the one who has to climb the mountain. Therefore, The therapist’s advantage over the patient is perspective.

2. The metaphor of light

As the name suggests, negative automatic thoughts appear in our minds instantly because they have been repeated for a long time. In that way, we have created a habit of thinking.

A metaphor that is used a lot in therapy to explain this mental phenomenon has to do with something that has once happened to us. What happens when a light bulb burns out or the power goes out? Well, we enter a room and, knowing that the light is not going to turn on, we press the switch. The same thing happens as with the thoughts, It’s something we have automated..

3. The metaphor of the house and furniture

Does a house lose value if its furniture is old, ugly or damaged? The answer is no. The house has value, no matter what furniture it contains. The house is not its furniture. In the same way, Human beings are valuable, despite their thoughts or specific actions..

4. The metaphor of quicksand

Anxiety makes us feel like we are stuck in quicksand.

Anxiety is like being on quicksand: the more we fight against them to get out, the more uneasy we feel and the more desperate and energetic that fight is. Thus, what this metaphor recommends is that, when you find yourself in an anxious state, you should try to relax, to act against what “your body asks of you.”

5. The metaphor of the trip to Seville

You have one goal: travel to Seville and even change the scene and start a life in that beautiful city. You take the car to leave and some intruding passengers in the back seat begin to tell you: but where do you think you are going? You don’t have the capacity to do that! You are not capable of driving this car, driving so much and living anywhere else!

6. The metaphor of the party and the guest we dislike

Is it worth missing out on pleasant moments in life because of negative details?

You’ve been invited to a big party: your best friend’s wedding. Obviously, you really want to attend, but You found out that someone you don’t like very much is going to go.. It’s about a co-worker of the boyfriend you were introduced to once and you really dislike him.

Are you going to stop going to the wedding because of it? I suppose your answer will be no, since you have many other people to enjoy yourself with.

In the same way, Negative emotions are like that guest. That is to say, just because they have also been invited to the party of our lives, we don’t have to stop doing things that matter to us.

7. The metaphor of heat

Negative emotions are like heat: very unpleasant. Surely you don’t tell yourself that being hot is horrible, unbearable, or nuclear war. It’s annoying, but we know that we have to go through it from time to time, especially in the summer. We don’t give it more value.

In the same way, Negative emotions exist and sometimes we are going to have to experience them.. Why aren’t we so forgiving of our own emotional states? Emotions, like heat, a headache or nausea, are nothing more than annoying physiological states, but they have no greater significance than providing us with information.

Elaboration of therapeutic metaphors

However, The psychologist who decides to use metaphors as a therapeutic tool does not have to limit himself to those that have already been developed., but you can create them considering the specific problem of the patient. In this last scenario, it is recommended to follow the following steps:

Identify the problem of the patient clearly and completely.Define the parts structures of the problem and choose the appropriate characters.Find a situation that has a correspondence related to the real problem.Consider the most suitable solution of the problem. Adapt the solution to the structure of the situation and create a fun story in which the conflict is resolved.

In conclusion, Metaphors are a useful and original resource in the therapeutic context. Some are comical, others have a point of sadness, others are philosophical… Whatever the case, each of them has the inevitable power to make us reflect.

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