phil
25-12-2003, 10:12 AM
What is David Grove's Metaphor Therapy?
Metaphor is how we give meaning to the most important and complex aspects of our lives. As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson conclude, in their ear-opening book Metaphors We Live By: "Metaphors are not mere poetical or rhetorical embellishments ... [they] affect the ways in which we perceive, think and act . Reality itself is defined by metaphor."
The Metaphor Therapy developed by David Grove is a process which facilitates profound change by working within a person's own symbolic representation of their problem or issue. Client's words, gestures, sighs, 'lines of sight' and other non-verbal cues provide entry to this out-of-awareness symbolic world. "Metaphor" David says "mediates the interface between the conscious and unconscious mind."
When a client says "I keep running up against a wall." David Grove not only assumes this metaphor is an accurate description of the person's experience but also that it is the best and most complete description available to the client at that moment. Thus, what kind of wall it is, where it appears to be within the client's perceptual space, its size and shape, the direction of the running will all be symbolic of the 'replicating mechanism' that keeps this person repeating the particular behaviours they describe as running up against a wall -- over and over again.
The sum total of a client's genic metaphors is called their Metaphor Landscape, which forms the context within which their symptoms are healed and change. As the process unfolds, new information becomes available to the client, enabling them to unstick stuck states, make new choices and change behaviours. (See the annotated transcipts of David at work: Ann's Anxiety about Cancer (http://www.devco.demon.co.uk/transcriptAnn.html) and Paul's Fear (http://www.devco.demon.co.uk/transcriptPaul.html). )
Reproduced with thanks from Penny Tompkins and James Lawley's site www.cleanlanguage.co.uk
For the latest on David Grove's Metaphor Therapy, go to the Metaphor Therapy (http://www.cleanforum.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6) forum.
Metaphor is how we give meaning to the most important and complex aspects of our lives. As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson conclude, in their ear-opening book Metaphors We Live By: "Metaphors are not mere poetical or rhetorical embellishments ... [they] affect the ways in which we perceive, think and act . Reality itself is defined by metaphor."
The Metaphor Therapy developed by David Grove is a process which facilitates profound change by working within a person's own symbolic representation of their problem or issue. Client's words, gestures, sighs, 'lines of sight' and other non-verbal cues provide entry to this out-of-awareness symbolic world. "Metaphor" David says "mediates the interface between the conscious and unconscious mind."
When a client says "I keep running up against a wall." David Grove not only assumes this metaphor is an accurate description of the person's experience but also that it is the best and most complete description available to the client at that moment. Thus, what kind of wall it is, where it appears to be within the client's perceptual space, its size and shape, the direction of the running will all be symbolic of the 'replicating mechanism' that keeps this person repeating the particular behaviours they describe as running up against a wall -- over and over again.
The sum total of a client's genic metaphors is called their Metaphor Landscape, which forms the context within which their symptoms are healed and change. As the process unfolds, new information becomes available to the client, enabling them to unstick stuck states, make new choices and change behaviours. (See the annotated transcipts of David at work: Ann's Anxiety about Cancer (http://www.devco.demon.co.uk/transcriptAnn.html) and Paul's Fear (http://www.devco.demon.co.uk/transcriptPaul.html). )
Reproduced with thanks from Penny Tompkins and James Lawley's site www.cleanlanguage.co.uk
For the latest on David Grove's Metaphor Therapy, go to the Metaphor Therapy (http://www.cleanforum.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6) forum.