As this subject matter is enormous the points that will be addressed here are those considered useful for the therapist to recognize and value when working with a client's metaphors and symbols. The clinical implication notes relate to the work with the four quadrants. All associated concepts have been replaced under a category of figurative speech. An implied analogy in which one thing is compared or identified with another dissimilar thing. That is to say when a feeling is transformed into its metaphorical equivalent, it is sustained throughout the work and functions as a controlling image.
Metaphors are 'vertical' in nature.
They deepen the information. Time is frozen while the information is developed. The questions used to develop a metaphor develop space not time. A metaphor awakens the conceptions with more force and grace than 'everyday' language. An epistemological metaphor is personal and unique, translating a feeling or thought into a form that can travel through time to its original.