Meaning and Metaphor in Psychoanalysis

An Online Reading and Discussion Group facilitated by

Gretchen Heyer, MA, MDiv, PhD, LPC

Instructional Level: Intermediate to Advanced

A Note from the HPS Program Chair: Metaphor is a fitting topic for our 2024-2025 educational program this year, in that it evokes both depth and vitality. It will be fun to explore this form of symbolism and word play with Gretchen Heyer, who is a published writer and poet as well as a practicing Jungian analyst!***** JoAnn Ponder, PhD

A metaphor makes an implicit comparison between two unlike things, usually by succinctly stating that one thing is the other. This form of symbolism and word play is used in poetry, writing, and everyday conversation, as well as psychoanalysis. In dialogue, metaphors can enhance understanding between people and aspects of their experience that seem, on surface level, to be very far apart or even beyond comprehension (Orange, 2011). The insight might prove surprising, and the effect is perhaps softening or jarring. As part of a psychoanalytic treatment process, a metaphor can evoke, discover, and create meaning, thereby expanding consciousness even as it organizes it (Seiden, 2004). Metaphors thus serve beneficial functions in treatment by connecting with the patient’s unconscious, bridging affect and cognition (Modell, 2009), and deepening the analytical work (Caspi, 2018). 

This study group will explore the use of metaphors in psychoanalytic treatment. The group will be limited to 23 participants. Registrants should have a basic grasp of psychoanalytic theory and be willing to complete the assigned readings. We will discuss the concepts and consider their application in our own clinical practices. 

Gretchen Heyer, MA, MDiv, PhD, LPC is a psychotherapist/psychoanalyst who completed her analytic training at the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, where she currently serves as a training analyst. She holds graduate degrees in creative writing as well as divinity. She has authored book chapters and clinical articles, the latter published in Psychoanalytic Inquiry and the Journal of Analytical Psychology. Her essays and poetry have been published in literary journals and the anthologies Power of the Feminine and Fantastic Imaginary Creatures. Dr. Heyer grew up in various countries of Africa and now maintains a private practice in Houston, Texas.

Syllabus compiled by JoAnn Ponder, PhD

Session 1 - Jan 7: Language and Metaphor in Poetry and Psychoanalysis

Holmes, J. (2004). The language of psychotherapy: Metaphor, ambiguity, wholeness: First published in BJP 1(4), 1984. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 21: 209-226.

Seiden, H. M. (2004). On the “music of thought”: The use of metaphor in poetry and in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 21: 638-644.

(optional) Sauvayre, P. & Vegas, M. (2016). An even hover-reading of Freud: The work of metaphor. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 97: 1343-1367.

Objectives

1. Identify 2 functions of metaphor in poetry and clinical psychoanalysis. 
2. Explain how transference is a special type of metaphor.

Session 2 - Jan 14: Metaphor as Bridge Between Thought and Feeling

Modell, A. H. (1997). The synergy of memory, affects and metaphor. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 42: 105-117.

Modell, A. H. (2005). Emotional memory, metaphor, and meaning. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 25: 555-568.

Modell, A. H. (2009). Metaphor—The bridge between feelings and knowledge. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 29: 6-11.

Objectives

1. Distinguish frozen or foreclosed metaphors from open, generative metaphors.
2. Describe how metaphors function from an embodied, neuroscience vantage in organizing and categorizing emotional memory, and how this function is impacted by trauma.

Session 3 - Jan 21: Metaphor in the Intersubjective Space

Caspi, T. (2018). Towards psychoanalytic contribution to linguistic metaphor theory. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 99: 1186-1211.

Seligman, S. (2007). Mentalization and metaphor, acknowledgment and grief: Forms of transformation in the reflective space. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 17: 321-344.

(optional) Ogden, T. (1997). Reverie and metaphor: Some thoughts on how I work as a psychoanalyst. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 78: 719-732.

Objectives

1. Explain how psychoanalysis can enrich linguistic metaphor theory.
2. Describe the clinical function of a central metaphor.

Session 4 - Jan 28: Metaphor and Trauma

Stern, D. B. (2009). Shall the twain meet? Metaphor, dissociation, and cooccurrence. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 29: 79-90.

Haen, C. (2020). The roles of metaphor and imagination in child trauma treatment. Journal of Infant, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy, 19: 42-55.

(optional) Orange, D. M. (2011). Speaking the unspeakable: “The implicit,” traumatic living memory, and the dialogue of metaphors. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 6: 187-206.

Objectives

1. Explain how cooccurrences are potential metaphors, and how they are impacted by trauma.
2. Identify 2 roles of metaphor in child trauma treatment. 

Session 5 - Feb 11: Metaphor and Analytic Field Theory

Civitarese, G. & Ferro, A. (2013). The meaning and use of metaphor in analytic field theory. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 33: 190-209.

de León de Bernardi, B. (2013). Field theory as a metaphor and metaphors in the analytic field and process. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 33: 247-266- Open Peer Review and Debate, 7: 1-29.

Objectives

1. Briefly summarize the meaning and use of metaphor in analytic field theory.
2. Describe the metaphoric processes implicit in interpretations.

IMAGE of musical notes from Shutterstock

APA Accreditation Statement

Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.