Metaphern in der Psychotherapie

Abstract

Metaphers in psychotherapy. This article discusses the importance of metaphors in Person-Centred Therapy. The meaning of metaphors for human experience becomes evident in such complex organizations as financial markets, whose abstraction becomes tangible only through metaphors. In psychotherapy, clients and therapists symbolize hard-to-describe feelings and experience through metaphors. The article describes metaphorically relevant aspects of therapy (for example, self, relationship, and change) and important functions of metaphors in therapy (for example, relationship building and the symbolization of emotions). Metaphors are connected to the course and success of therapy as well as to the core person-centered concept of empathy. Furthermore, metaphors reflect concepts about therapy and the self. A person-centred approach to metaphor is directed at the personal meanings and experiences in the clients’ metaphors.