Metaphor and psychoanalytic dialogue.

Although the clinical theory and practice rice of psychoanalysis is in many ways dominated by metaphor, this fact has been rarely subjected to systematic analysis and the role it plays has hence gone largely unremarked. Taking his bearings from cognitive linguistics, the author discusses metaphor as an important element in psychoanalytic treatment. Distinguishing between manifest and conceptual metaphors, he demonstrates that psychoanalytic interpretation may be conceptualized in terms of "metaphor switching". The interpretation brings a new metaphor into play, thus opening up new vistas and new avenues to be explored. With reference to a number of case examples, the author is able to provide a graphic illustration of the implications of his hypothesis.