The facilitating role of metaphors in psychotherapy with adolescents : a cybernetic perspective

Abstract

The capacity of psychotherapeutic metaphors to play a facilitating role in the process of psychotherapy with adolescents is the research question under investigation in this study. To determine whether this process-facilitating capacity exists, the researcher will describe various case studies to illustrate this occurrence. To this end and because of the lack of research in this area, the aim of this study is to determine the facilitating role of metaphor in psychotherapy with adolescents. To achieve this, the basic concepts of cybernetic epistemology are explored, as well as the psychotherapeutic use of metaphors. These theoretical constructs are then applied to the therapeutic case studies where the facilitating role of metaphors are described, thus satisfYing the initial aim of this study. It is important to remember that the aim of this study is not to provide guidelines for therapeutic interventions, nor is it to propose a new psychotherapeutic technique. Rather, the aim of this study is to describe the facilitating role played by metaphors in psychotherapy.