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THE LANGUAGE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: METAPHOR, AMBIGUITY, WHOLENESS
Author(s) -
Holmes Jeremy
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0118.2004.tb00203.x
Subject(s) - metaphor , ambiguity , psychology , perspective (graphical) , language and thought , ethology , cognitive science , natural (archaeology) , poetry , relevance (law) , linguistics , psychoanalysis , cognition , philosophy , neuroscience , ecology , history , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology , political science , law
Psychoanalysis is approached from the perspective of linguistics. It is argued that analysis is concerned with a type of communication different in nature and logic from that of the natural sciences. The characteristics of analytic language are illustrated by comparing poetry and psychoanalysis. Transference is discussed as a special type of metaphor; ambiguity is seen as an intrinsic aspect of aesthetic language; wholeness is held to be a goal of both therapy and the arts. The relevance of this view to recent findings in neurophysiology and ethology is discussed.