Dominance and Nurturance in the Figurative Expressions of Psychotherapy Clients

It has been recognized that clients' figurative expressions can be a window into the central themes of therapy and can reveal much about clients' affective experiences, thought processes, and perceptions of self and others. However, there have been few attempts to study the use of figurative expressions within a theoretical or conceptual framework that links the content of clients' figurative expressions to therapy outcome. In this article, we present the results of a study in which all client-generated figurative expressions relating to interpersonal actions from 21 cases of psychotherapy were selected and coded on Kiesler's (1985) Acts Version of the Interpersonal Circle. Results revealed a fairly clear and theoretically consistent relationship between therapy outcome and the location on the interpersonal circumplex of clients' figurative expressions of self actions.