Do Metaphors Work In Therapy?
Case Study: How a Rock Experiment Shifted A Client's Perspective
Metaphor: a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract — Oxford Languages.
The following story is loosely based on actual events and dramatized for therapist-client confidentiality. Names are fictionalized.
Meeting Tim
In the early summer of 2023, a rural, middle-aged man named "Tim," contacted me for therapy services. He sought help to find his purpose in life and didn't know where to begin. When we met in person, I became aware that Tim was carrying a lot of excess baggage; false beliefs were weighing down his shoulders due to an antiquated belief system that no longer served him. The question remained — how could he let go of the old and make room for the new?
Tim was connected to the land. He loved spending time in his boat fishing with his dog or hiking in the woods. On many of these occasions, he'd think about his father, who had deceased a few years prior, and grieved the once important figure in his life.
