Studying the Use of Figurative Language in Psychotherapy: The Search for Researchable Questions

Abstract

Much of the theoretical and conceptual writing on the use of figurative language in psychotherapy has stressed the important role that this language plays in facilitating change. A review of the empirical literature indicates that, although frequent calls have been made to investigate the change-producing effects of metaphor, we have yet to elucidate these effects through empirical research, to suggest that this domain of inquiry be left to theorists and clinicians and that empirical researchers concentrate their efforts on investigating questions that are amenable to empirical research. Some possible avenues include the study of clients' key as markers of change (Siegelman, 1990) and the conceptualizing of those domains of figurative language that are predominant in psychotherapy, specifically, metaphors of. self, self-other relationships, emotion, and cognitive-affective-behavioral states.