Tonight on BBC4, Dr Phil Hammond found out how the use of metaphorical language in health care is increasingly accepted as a powerful aid to healing.
MP3 audio file – Penny Tompkins – Grove back pain
On the show, Penny Tompkins explained David Grove’s methods of providing therapy to Vietnam’s veterans. Some of them people couldn’t describe their experiences, but they could talk about a metaphor. He designed a set of “Clean Language” questions designed to minimise outside influence and allow them to understand themselves and improve their condition.
Penny described her metaphor for her own back pain which involved a cross bar with solid bolts and electrical wires. The Clean Language coach developed this metaphor and Penny began to experience it as a willow tree with roots that come down. This new metaphor had flexibility and was grounded. The effect was that Penny was physically without pain and “ready to do cartwheels”.
Penny also described a client who had been sexually abused but was able to feel better without having to remember the details of her past. By working entirely in metaphors and process, the patient didn’t have to talk about the details and content of the abuse.
Dr Phil Hammond said that “Metaphors may not be able to cure you, but they can help you pull you out of the river [of disease], or perhaps stopping you falling in, in the first place.”
Brian Birch is a Dating and Relationship Coach. Brian helps people find and build successful relationships through personal growth and practical steps. Brian uses Clean Language and other coaching techniques to develop the client’s metaphors, see patterns in their relationships and find new ways to get what they want.
Brian Birch, Dating and Relationship Coach
http://brianbirch.com/home.php
Tel 07703 176167
James Lawley and Penny Tompkins are world leaders in Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling.
Book
Metaphors in Mind: Transformation Through Symbolic Modelling (Paperback) by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metaphors-Mind-Transformation-Symbolic-Modelling/dp/0953875105
Website
http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/
The Clean Change company offers excellent Clean Language courses.
Book
Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metaphors-Mind-Transformation-Symbolic-Modelling/dp/0953875105
Website
OP: I could be daff (lord knows I have been told lol) but that made totally no sense…