Metaphor and Change in Cognitive and Constructive Psychotherapies

Abstract

The emergence of the constructivist perspective in cognitive science and psychotherapy ( Neimeyer & Mahoney, 1995 ; Rosen & Kuehlwein, 1996 ; Sexton & Griffin, 1997 ) has served to highlight a central role for human language, narrative, and stories in the creation of psychological realities ( Anderson & Goolishian, 1988 ; Efran, Lukens & Lukens, 1990 ; Hare-Mustin, 1994 ; Russell, 1995 ; Shotter, 1993 ). In contrast to objectivist accounts of language as a representation or map of the contours of some a priori reality existing “behind” language, constructivists emphasize the way in which humans use language to invent personal and social realities (cf. Gergen, 1994 ; Johnson, 1987 ; Lakoff, 1987 ). One important consequence of this focus on language has been a greater appreciation for the metaphorical features of human knowing and meaning creation ( Carlsen, 1996 ). Indeed, recognized as a form of thought with its own epistemological functions, metaphors have played a central role in structuring human understanding across many domains of inquiry, from the philosophical and scientific to the more personal and psychological ( Lakoff & Johnson, 1980 ; Leary, 1990a ; Lyddon, 1989 ).