Towards a cognitive formulation of metaphor use in psychotherapy

Characterized by many as "the language of change," metaphor has naturally become central to psychotherapy where change is a definitive aspect. This article reviews linguistic and psychological conceptualizations of metaphor and argues against popular psychotherapeutic applications that regard metaphor as the language of the unconscious and use it as an indirect method of communication. Rather, it presents a cognitive model of metaphor that is active and directive and that accurately acknowledges the nature of metaphor as an heuristic and epistemic device. This model also recognizes the potential harm of metaphor and reiterates the importance of explicitness and shared understanding according to communication theory.