When therapists hear patients talk of feeling imprisoned, burning with rage, trapped, or unequipped, they are witnessing manifestations of the symbolic attitude, the hallmark of all depth psychology. Most clinicians naturally respond to and use metaphors, but they often fail to understand the full potential of metaphoric images. This volume, in addressing the transforming power of metaphor, demonstrates how clinicians can deepen the therapeutic encounter.

About the Author

Ellen Y. Siegelman, PhD, is Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, and is an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She has authored numerous professional articles on object relations theory and on psychology and literature. She maintains private practices in Berkeley and San Francisco.

Reviews

I think it is a valuable book and only wish I had had it in my hands when I was a student in training to be a psychoanalyst nearly 50 years ago. --Marion Milner, Ph.D., Member, British Psycho-analytic Society; author of On Not Being Able to Paint

This lucid presentation of the healing uses of metaphor comes from a Jungian psychotherapist who has not been afraid to learn from psychoanalysts. Psychoanalysis too has much to learn from her wise exposition of the musical method of creative symbolization as a process of moving personality forward. --John Beebe, M.D., Member, San Francisco Society of Jungian Analysts; editor, The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal

Siegelman's book on metaphor is a welcome addition to any therapist's library because it cannot fail to sensitize the reader to the countless ways in which novel uses of language can function in a clinical setting. --Donald P. Spence in Contemporary Psychology

Superb....Gives us both a theoretical and clinical understanding of the uses of the poetic imagination in depth psychotherapy....Full of rich clinical examples....Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy is a rare book in our field, one in which the medium and the message are in harmony. Siegelman's prose is elegant, studded with stunning imagery and clearly articulated ideas. --Naomi Ruth Lowinsky in Psychological Perspectives
- An excellent work which can make the effective use of metaphor more conscious in our daily practice of . --Psychotherapy, 10/17/1993ff ....Superb....Gives us both a theoretical and clinical understanding of the uses of the poetic imagination in depth psychotherapy....Full of rich clinical examples....Metaphor and Meaning in Psychotherapy is a rare book in our field, one in which the medium and the message are in harmony. Siegelman's prose is elegant, studded with stunning imagery and clearly articulated ideas. --Psychological Perspectives, 10/17/1993ff One does not have to be psychoanalytic or dynamic to appreciate her thoughtful and compassionate look at the process of therapy. In fact, the connections she draws among language, affect, and perceived experience have something to offer therapists from a variety of orientations....Metaphor & Meaning depicts the art in therapy and, therefore, speaks to the artist. Her beautiful examples of therapy are interspersed with theory and discussion to provide sustenance for the intellect as well. --International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 10/17/1993

Book Information
ISBN 9780898620146
Author Ellen Y. Siegelman
Format Paperback
Page Count 206
Imprint Guilford Publications
Publisher Guilford Publications
Weight(grams) 360g