Previewing: a developmental principle that promotes the therapeutic use of metaphor.
When one is treating mother-infant dyads psychotherapeutically, the infant's inchoate language skills render the traditional use of metaphor ineffective. This paper discusses how a developmental principle, labeled previewing, may function like a metaphor and be used to address the therapeutic needs of the dyad. Previewing and metaphor also may complement each other in the treatment of adults in individual therapy. Previewing--like metaphors--may provide a means of addressing interpersonal issues, may function as a shared language that promotes intersubjectivity, and may help the patient deal with conflict in a non-threatening manner that may circumvent defensive operations.
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Child and Adolescent Outpatient Department, Cornell University Medical Center, White Plains, NY 10605.
D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003210:Concept Formation; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012660:Semantics