Therapist experiencing of metaphor in person-centered relationships

ABSTRACT

This study uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to better understand therapist experiencing of metaphor in non-directive person-centered relationships. Metaphor is ubiquitous in language. Meanwhile, literature in the field of psychotherapy posits it as indicative of a range of therapeutic attitudes, goals and outcomes. However, outside of noting its uses for communicating empathic understanding, and its function in process direction and diagnosis, the person-centered approach has no coherent account of it. Analysis of interviews with three therapists revealed experiencing related to relinquishing certainty, risking curiosity, and connecting briefly. These findings led to a brief consideration of the dialogical contact made when meeting in metaphor, with meaning noticed as an emergent quality of this contact. Whilst making a case for research that broadens the notion of rationality and embraces the complex ineffability of human experience, this article suggests some further questions, derived from the results, that might be addressed in future reflection.

KEYWORDS:

• Intersubjectivity
• contact
• mutuality
• dialogue
• extensionality
• hermeneutic phenomenology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).