Clients' Perceptions of Psychological Metaphors They Receive in Therapy
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1985 Therapeutic metaphor : clients' perceptions of psychological metaphors they receive in therapy. Kathryn L. Dardeck University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Dardeck, Kathryn L., "Therapeutic metaphor : clients' perceptions of psychological metaphors they receive in therapy." (1985). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4001. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4001 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THERAPEUTIC METAPHOR: CLIENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL METAPHORS THEY RECEIVE IN THERAPY A Dissertation Presented By KATHRYN LEE DARDECK Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION MAY 1985 Education Kathryn Lee Dardeck © All Rights Reserved ii THERAPEUTIC METAPHOR: CLIENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL METAPHORS THEY RECEIVE IN THERAPY A Dissertation Presented By KATHRYN LEE DARDECK Approved as to style and content by: William J. Matthews, Chairperson of Committee Richard Konicek, Member iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Philip A. Dardeck, who challenged me to always pursue excellence, and Shirley Ruth Hahn Dardeck, who encour¬ aged me to trust and believe in my innermost self. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks are in order here. This study would not have been possible without the courage and commitment of the three women who are presented in case study in the pages to follow. Many thanks to the three of you, whose names have been changed here to ensure confidentiality. Thank you to Evan Coppersmith, who originally sparked my interest in the field of counseling psychology and who provided a stellar female role model of a caring, talented and highly committed therapist. Suzanne Kirsh typed the final manuscript with as much care and grace as if it had been her own. Both she and her "speedy keys" were a delight. Throughout my time as a graduate student, the three members of my committee have each supported and helped me through various phases of my doctoral work: Over the years Bill Matthews has shared with me his ideas, time and volumes of Milton Erickson’s collected papers. I have grown professionally and personally as a result of our interactions and gratefully acknowledge his support of my work. Dick Konicek has provided me with a sense of his calm confidence, in both himself and others, since he first signed on as a member of my Doctoral committee. He has been a joy to know; I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from him. Throughout the dissertation. Rich Halgin has been supportive8of not only my academic -^k, but of my clinical work as well. A special thank you to both him and the Psychological Services Center for permitting me V my study while working there. There have been a number of particularly special friends whose support and encouragement through my years as a Doctoral student merit special mentioning here: I am indebted to Lynn Berrios for her endless typing of the initial drafts, and for her support and encouragement which made this process less overwhelming. Maryanne Galvin's warmth and wit have been a constant source of laughter and strength over the past 5 years. Robert Flor's active interest in my work and unwaiver- ing belief in my abilities has helped sustain and empower me throughout this arduous project. Ilene Prashker's friendship and unending generous hospitality has been a comfortingly consistent place of refuge and recharging. Alan Kurtz, Joan Brandon and Bill Barnes, members of my original Doctoral support group, shared meals, ideas and support with me. I have been greatly warmed by their friend ship, and inspired by each of them. A special thank you to Alan, who persevered along with me through the final stretch. Finally, a very special thank you to David Hardy who provided a daily ear over the last two years, and who had a wonderful gift for reigniting the light at the end o a seemingly endless tunnel. vi ABSTRACT THERAPEUTIC METAPHOR: CLIENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL METAPHORS THEY RECEIVE IN THERAPY May, 1985 Kathryn Lee Dardeck, B.S., Boston University M.Ed., Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Dr. William Matthews This research investigated through three intensive case studies, clients' responses to therapeutic metaphor as a treatment technique in therapy. Three females participated in the study, which was advertised as a short term therapy approach to smoking cessation. Each client attended eight to nine individual sessions. Therapeutic metaphor utilizing the general design of the Lanktons' model (1983) of multiple embedded metaphor, was a prominent feature of each session. A treatment diagnosis was developed for each client utilizing the behaviorial, affective and developmental categories employed by the Lanktons (1983). Utilizing this information, a series of metaphors were then developed that paralleled each client's situation, and meta¬ phorically resolved smoking problems. Each client was asked to review, by videotaped replay, one particular session in which metaphor was employed. A structured inter¬ view was then used to determine what the client remembered thinking about during the telling of the metaphor, at each of the main stages. Five weeks following each client's final session, she responded vii to a questionnaire inquiring as to her perceptions of the metaphor treatment process. The purpose of this study was to systematically obtain the client's post hoc perceptions of therapeutic metaphor. The findings were intended to inform the process of metaphor by obtaining the client's perspective. Accordingly, the study addressed clients' reactions to the five stages of multiple embedded metaphor as detailed by the Lanktons (1983) . Through case examples the general purposes of each stage were corroborated. Two of the three clients often made conscious associations between the matching and resource metaphors and their respective smok¬ ing situations. Rather than being detrimental to the therapy, this conscious processing seemed to aid the treatment by establishing each client's positive expectancy that she would hear stories in session that would address her concerns. Resulting from this finding, a hypo¬ thesis was generated suggesting that unconscious processing of metaphor is not necessarily requisite for successful therapy. Further, in cases of clieruts who are somewhat doubtful about such "alternative" treat¬ ments addressing their concerns, some conscious understanding of the metaphor's relevance to them may be beneficial. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v ABSTRACT.vii LIST OF TABLES.. LIST OF FIGURES..xiii Chapter I. THE PROBLEM Introduction . 1 Statement of the Problem and Rationale 2 Purpose of the Study . 6 Significance of the Study . 7 Limitations of the Study . 10 Definition of Terms . 11 Organization of the Dissertation . 12 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . Organization of the Chapter . 13 14 Introduction . 16 Historic Uses of Metaphor . 16 Metaphor in Religion . 26 Metaphor in Children’s Stories . 30 Cognitive Role of Metaphor . 30 Memory . Verbal Communication as a Metaphor of 32 Cognitive Experience . 34 Transderivational Search . A Metaphoric Example of How Metaphor 35 Cognitively Works . 36 Therapeutic Purposes of Speaking Metaphorically . 36 In Psychoanalysis . 37 In Psychotherapy . 40 In Strategic Therapy . 40 Erickson . 42 Rossi . 44 Zeig. 45 Haley . 47 Explicating Erickson's Work . 48 Collecting Information . ' 49 Designing the Metaphor . 54 Delivering the Metaphor .* M 59 Summary and Conclusion of the Basic Metaphor Model Multiple Embedded Metaphor Model . 60 Conclusion. 64 III. METHODOLOGY. 66 Description of the Research Methodology . 66 Selection of Subjects . 69 Setting. 70 Data Collection. 71 Instrumentation . 75 Data Analysis. 78 IV. RESULTS. 79 Organization of the Chapter . 79 Section I - Initial Interviews and Selected Sessions . 81 Abby's Arrival . 81 Abby's Problem Focussed Initial Interview . 81 Abby's Clinical Assessment . 84 Abby's Initial Psychotherapy Summary . 85 Abby's Selected Therapeutic Metaphor . 88 Discussion - Abby's Tennis Metaphor . 93 Louise's Arrival .. 95 Louise's Problem Focussed Initial Interview . 96 Louise's Clinical Assessment . 98 Louise's Initial Psychotherapy Summary . 100 Louise's Selected Therapeutic Metaphor . 103 Discussion — Louise's Woodpecker Metaphor . 109 112 Deborah's Arrival . ...... Deborah's Problem Focussed Initial Interview • • 112 115 Deborah's Clinical Assessment . 116 Deborah's Initial Psychotherapy Summary . 119 Deborah's Selected Therapeutic Metaphor . 123 Discussion - Deborah's Mama Lion Metaphor . Section II - Multiple Embedded Metaphors and 128 Follow-up Interviews . 128 Abby - Introduction . 131 Abby's Multiple Embedded Metaphor . 139 Post M.E.M. Interview with Abby . 144 Summary of Abby’s Post M.E.M. Interview . 146 Louise - Introduction . 150 Louise's Multiple Embedded Metaphor . 153 Post M.E.M. Interview with Louise . 157 Summary of Louise’s Post M.E.M. Interview . 159 Deborah - Introduction.• ’ * 162 Deborah's Multiple Embedded