The ‘Transformative’ Power of Metaphor: Assessing its Unexplored Potential at the Crossroads between Static and Dynamic Instances

Given the centrality of bodily and emotional experience to the notion of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson 2003 [1980]; Lakoff 1993; Gibbs 2006a and b; Kövecses 2000), this chapter investigates the ‘transformative power’ of metaphor in ‘talking cure’ practices, to face personal crisis and to produce strategic change. Starting from the centrality of metaphor in the (-re)‍‍structuring of experience (Burns 2005; Loue 2008; Roffman 2008), its power as a ‘transformative’ tool is fostered on the basis of its language/thought and embodiment theoretical foundations to implement its application potential. An experimental method emerges, which adapts textual identification procedures (Steen 1999, 2010; Ferrari 2007, 2018; Pragglejaz 2007) to an integrated psychological approach (Rogers 2003[1951]; Perls, Hefferline and Goodman 1951). A psychometric test is presented to evaluate the transformative power of ‘integrated metaphor’ in counselling.