Digging down or scratching the surface: how patients use metaphors to describe their experiences of psychotherapy

BMC Psychiatry

Table 1 Conceptual metaphors used by patients to describe their experience of therapy and improvement from depression

Category of Metaphors	Conceptual Metaphors	Examples of metaphors
The therapeutic process	Surface and depth ²	Digging down³, getting to the root, removing dental stones.
	Tools²	Get tools², build myself up.
	Sorting and organizing³	Picking up pieces, finding a missing piece of the puzzle, untangle threads³.
	Cleaning and emptying³	Sweep the dirt, emptying the garbage, clean up, ventilate.
The therapeutic relationship	Openness²	Opening up³, being closed.
	Chemistry³	Good chemistry³.
	Temperature³	Cold relationship, cold therapist, warm therapist³.
Improvement from depression	Disease³	The disease talking³, remove the megaphone.
	Opponent³	Monsters inside me, a saboteur.
	Stuck and loosened³	Something loosened³, being stuck, oiled the machinery.
	Up and down³	Reduce the fall, raising the floor.
	Darkness and light²	Everything is dark³, a spring morning.

Metaphors used by all, most and some patients are numbered 1, 2 and 3 accordingly. If only one patient used the metaphor, there is no annotation

ISSN: 1471-244X