Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy

by Ellen Y. Siegelman

Overview

When therapists hear patients talk of feeling "imprisoned," "burning with rage," "trapped," or "unequipped," they are witnessing manifestations of the symbolic attitude, the hallmark of all depth psychology. Most clinicians naturally respond to and use metaphors, but they often fail to understand the full potential of metaphoric images. This volume, in addressing the transforming power of metaphor, demonstrates how clinicians can deepen the therapeutic encounter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898620146
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	10/15/1993
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	206
Product dimensions:	6.01(w) x 8.96(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Ellen Y. Siegelman, PhD, is Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, and is an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She has authored numerous professional articles on object relations theory and on psychology and literature. She maintains private practices in Berkeley and San Francisco.

Table of Contents

1. The Primacy of Metaphor
2. The Bodily Matrix of Metaphor
3. Exploring Clinically the Sources of Conventional and Novel Metaphors
4. Metaphors of the Self: Changes in the Course of Therapy
5. Metaphor and Defense
6. The Therapist's Metaphors
7. Pitfalls in the Use of Metaphor
8. Metaphors of the Therapeutic Kind
9. The Symbolic Attitude

Interviews

For all who practice psychotherapy.

Editorial Reviews

"One does not have to be psychoanalytic or dynamic to appreciate her thoughtful and compassionate look at the process of therapy. In fact, the connections she draws among language, affect, and perceived experience have something to offer therapists from a variety of orientations....Metaphor & Meaning depicts the art in therapy and, therefore, speaks to the artist. Her beautiful examples of therapy are interspersed with theory and discussion to provide sustenance for the intellect as well."

International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology

"I think it is a valuable book and only wish I had had it in my hands when I was a student in training to be a psychoanalyst nearly 50 years ago." —Marion Milner, Ph.D., Member, British Psycho-analytic Society; author of On Not Being Able to Paint

"This lucid presentation of the healing uses of metaphor comes from a Jungian psychotherapist who has not been afraid to learn from psychoanalysts. Psychoanalysis too has much to learn from her wise exposition of the musical method of creative symbolization as a process of moving personality forward." —John Beebe, M.D., Member, San Francisco Society of Jungian Analysts; editor, The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal

"Siegelman's book on metaphor is a welcome addition to any therapist's library because it cannot fail to sensitize the reader to the countless ways in which novel uses of language can function in a clinical setting. " —Donald P. Spence in Contemporary Psychology

"Superb....Gives us both a theoretical and clinical understanding of the uses of the poetic imagination in depth psychotherapy....Full of rich clinical examples....Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy is a rare book in our field, one in which the medium and the message are in harmony. Siegelman's prose is elegant, studded with stunning imagery and clearly articulated ideas." —Naomi Ruth Lowinsky in Psychological Perspectives

From the Publisher

"An excellent work which can make the effective use of metaphor more conscious in our daily practice of ."

Psychotherapy

"....Superb....Gives us both a theoretical and clinical understanding of the uses of the poetic imagination in depth psychotherapy....Full of rich clinical examples....Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy is a rare book in our field, one in which the medium and the message are in harmony. Siegelman's prose is elegant, studded with stunning imagery and clearly articulated ideas."

Psychological Perspectives

Siegelman (medical psychology, U. of California, San Francisco) presents metaphor as a form of symbolization uniquely suited to bridging the known and unknown, the conscious and unconscious, the personal and universal. She offers clinical data to illustrate its use in the psychotherapeutic process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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