Metaphoria: Metaphor and Guided Metaphor for Psychotherapy by Rubin Battino provides the magic mix for all Ericksonian and NLP practitioners with a thoroughly detailed appraisal of language patterns, rapport building, effective client-communication and feedback-monitoring.
Rubin Battino scrutinises the metaphor as a supremely inspiring, enlightening and healing story and as a tool which will stimulate the client's imagination in an optimum way. The author discusses the power of the metaphor to alter the client's unconscious perception by defying the logical boundaries of the conscious mind and thereby rendering metaphorical imagery as the supreme learning and therapeutic device.
At the outset the author stresses the importance of delivery of the metaphor with -˜precise use of vague language' thereby underlining the non-logical, open-ended and non-specific value of such a methodology with the practitioner evolving as the ultimate storyteller. When relating the metaphor, it is vital that the therapeutic storyteller relay the message with insight and personal authenticity in order to allow the client to grasp and integrate the deeper structure, rather than merely the surface structure, of the inherent meaning. By this means the true therapeutic purpose of the metaphor will be achieved by allowing the client to interpret the message according to his own unique reality.
Metaphoria provides a comprehensive guide to the history and development of the metaphor and guided imagery. Rubin Battino also discusses the application of generic metaphors, thematic metaphors, embedded messages and client-tasks based on metaphoric material. The practitioner can thus skilfully assist the client to resolve inner conflict utilising techniques for reframing and purposeful ambiguity. The practitioner will also be guided through the process of gathering information and of constructing a metaphor tailor-made for the client.
A large section of Metaphoria is devoted to extremely beneficial solution-focused techniques for reality checks, as-if situations, client-narrative assignments, creative art therapy, psychodramatic re-enactment and curative healing all of which incorporate metaphorical methodology rendering this work of even more value to the working professional in the therapeutic fraternity.

An ideal companion to the author's excellent Expectation: The Very Brief Therapy Book, Metaphoria provides an overview of metaphor based therapy. Learned and scholarly, with many references to source materials the book is well written and provides a fascinating insight into a wealth of therapies that have metaphor at their heart. I found the early chapters on the structure, language and delivery of metaphor somewhat heavy going ” perhaps I am too familiar with that territory. The later sections covering the many different approaches to using metaphor in therapy, though, are excellent.

Many enjoyable metaphors are presented in the text, as examples, but this is not a collection of metaphors as such. There are numerous such collections available including the popular Magic of Metaphor series by Nick Owen, also from Crown House Publishing.

Overall Metaphoria is a good, scholarly introduction to the science and practice of metaphor. It will be a useful reference point for therapists of all ilks.

Battino's newest book, Metaphoria, Metaphor and Guided Metaphor for Psychotherapy and Healing, is an addition to his growing contributions to the Ericksonian literature on psychotherapy. For those already familiar with well known Ericksonian theoreticians/clinicians (i.e., the Lanktons, Zeig, and Rossi), this book will be mostly a review, but a finely arranged one that makes the book a potential text for the teacher of metaphor. In fact, the author states that when asked to write this book, he was unsure that he would add anything new to the literature. For those who have no background in hypnosis or guided imagery, this book is not the place to begin. It assumes a level of familiarity with certain concepts that would be confusing to a beginner, and as such requires a teacher to provide the foundation in imagery and hypnotic work. However, for the psychotherapist with some background in imagery work, the book covers many topics and provides a detailed introduction to the definition, structure, formulation and application of metaphors.

In this compendium, the title may be one of Battino's most creative contributions. As the title suggests, the author has set the horn of plenty on the table amassing a fine array of examples, exercises, and experts which loosely all relate to the topic of metaphors. Interesting that Battino's invented word conveyed to him “euphoria, metamorphosis, passion and moments of delight” (xvii). One might guess that this particular metaphor remained unconscious to Battino, but as he suggests, the “meaning of any communication is the response you get” (p. 23). To this reviewer, Battino communicated breadth more than depth. To wring the last bit from this metaphor, I ate tidbits from a wide variety, but remained un-full yet not unfulfilled in the end.

It would be a disservice not to mention Battino's passion, however, which is as much for the narrative as for the acted, spoken word. Battino tells us he is an actor, and I am sure the skills culled and condensed from that profession delight and enrapture the listener when he tells his stories. He covers the details of pacing and leading, and at times strays deeply into the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) literature to cover anchoring and eye cues (p.70), all of which are useful concepts and skills for an astute clinician, but hardly necessary to the use of good metaphors. Battino comments on the difference between the spoken word and the read word (p.2), clearly preferring the spoken, and it is here that the weakness of the hook emerges. This is a hook about metaphors in the context of psychotherapy, yet seems to be a book about psychotherapy in the context of metaphor and guided imagery. This is hardly a criticism, for it implies that Battino simply set out to do too much, and probably has too much experience to limit the focus easily. For example, I would have liked to see Chapter Four expanded, as central to the book's explanations about metaphors and their construction, rather than the author's superficial covering of a broad range of therapeutic techniques, e.g., the arts and psychodrama.

Of great value in this book are the detailed examples, the therapeutic interventions, and the how to's, which both novice and experienced therapists will find useful. Battino devotes a chapter each to reframing, ambiguous function assignments, ordeal therapy, and as-if or miracle questions, referring to each as a kind of metaphor. In Chapter Seventeen, Battino deflnes what he means by guided imagery and guided metaphor: “In individual guided-imagery work a healing metaphor is developed collaboratively with the client” (p. 289). A guided metaphor is also developed collaboratively but uses the “client's story of her life as well as her personalized healing metaphor” (p. 289). (l am not convinced there is a distinction, since imagery can summon a client's entire “story”.) What is useful are the questions he provides in order to gather the information needed and the steps to follow to then create healing metaphors for clients. These steps are easy to follow, although as Battino reminds the reader, making metaphors is a complex task. Just having the ingredients does not a gourmet meal make.

Consciously designing metaphors (p.84) is an important learning tool, and one Battino recommends. I wish that the author had spent some time discussing the therapist's sum of unconscious experience which often permeates our work, allowing, for example, the image (the metaphor) to float into consciousness that ultimately relates our understanding and work with a client.

Battino reminds us that the so!ution-focused-brief-therapists perceive three kinds of clients: The workers, the complainants and the visitors (p.205). I would guess that the “workers” make up the smallest percentage of people in therapy, and that moving the other two groups towards “working” is the real challenge of therapy, and that requires relationship skills, patience, and a well integrated conceptual framework on the part of the therapist. For some, metaphor will be part of that framework, for others it will be the framework. See Battino's all too brief mention of Batesonian Perspective (p.6) to appreciate metaphoric meta structure and the notion that in the mind all is metaphor.

Pairing action with metaphor to achieve change is crucial to work with children, and really is another way to define play therapy. Battino credits Ordeal Therapy to Erickson and Haley (p.228). These are not new ideas; they are old ones with a new name.

Herein lies the crux of my disappointment in this book- it covers many of the techniques, the theories, the concepts that are the common ground to all good therapy, and yet, fails to note that connection. It is a strength to be so inclusive, it is a weakness to not call it such, and in this Metaphoria fails. The book might have been better titled: Multiple Interventions for Healing.

Child therapists are not likely to gain much from this book, although some examples of metaphors to use with children are included. The book is written largely for treating adults (or the child within the adult), and for those comfortable defining therapy as trance and utilizing trance phenomenon to achieve the patient's objectives. As noted earlier, it will also be of interest to teachers and trainers looking for a comprehensive text on metaphors. It is well organized and planned, clear although not always elaborate.

WhiIe there is no mention of Jung, whose great contribution of the concept of collective unconscious was all about metaphor (Kalsehed, 1996), nor much attention of the old psychotherapy masters who drew heavily from metaphorical reference (e.g., Winnicott, Freud, Horney), it seems more an honest omission due to Battino's passion for Ericksonian thinking. Milton H. Erickson, M.D., was of course, a product of the old masters, and undoubtedly influenced by them, so it seems Battino has honored the memory of his mentor with this book.

During and since graduate school the biggest criticism I have been given of my professional writing is that it is too poetic. I know now that was a compliment, for this comment recognized my particular framework for conceptualizing therapy. This is what Battino would call the metaphorist (p. 21). In the end, we may remember Battino for introducing the wonderful word metaphoria into the language of psychotherapy.

References

Battino, R. (2000). Guided imagery and other approaches to healing. Carmarthen, Wales: Crown House Publishing.
Kalsched, D. (1996). The inner world of trauma: Archetypal defenses of the personal spirit. London: Routledge