Metaphor & the Work of Therapy

Metaphor is one of the most natural ways we make sense of our inner life. Before we developed psychological language we had images - storms, knots, fog, waves - and these remain some of the most accurate ways to describe what is happening inside of us.

Metaphor lets us express something true without being exposed. We can say “It feels like I am walking through fog” long before we can say “I’m lost” or “I’m frightened”. The image carries the emotional truth gently, without forcing it into literal language too soon. The thinking mind often tries to tidy, explain, or dismiss feelings. Metaphor bypasses defences. If someone says “It’s like I’m holding everything together with string”, we don’t need to argue with string - we can explore it’s fragility, it’s history and what it’s protecting.

Metaphor restores complexity. Diagnostic terms tend to flatten experience. Metaphor re-expands it. It allows a person to be more than just a label - to be a landscape, a weather system, a story still unfolding. It honours the symbolic dimension of the psyche which is where real movement happens.

Metaphor creates shared meaning. When a client offers an image, it becomes a place where both therapist and client can stand together. It’s a meeting point that respects privacy whilst allowing connection. The metaphor becomes an important part of the relational field.

Metaphor brings the body back in. It is sensory. It draws on temperature, texture, movement - “a weight on my chest”, “a tightening in my throat”, “a current knocking me off my feet”. These images help us reconnect with our bodies without being overwhelmed by them.

Metaphor matters now more than ever because we are living in a culture that increasingly describes internal experience through diagnoses and categories. Metaphor resists that flattening. It keeps our inner world rich and alive. It keeps therapy human. And it lets us speak in the language that our psyche already uses.