Magnanimity, Mindfulness, & Metaphor - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Magnanimity, Mindfulness, & Metaphor

Cultivating Balance in Clients and Clinicians

Texas University and College Counseling Centers Conference

February 6, 2014

• Means “greatness of soul”
• Greatness results from exemplification of all virtues
• Virtue = mean between two extremes
• GREATNESS OF SOUL IS BALANCE!
• This is what both clinicians and clients should aim for!
• Metaphor and mindfulness embody balance and can therefore help us achieve and maintain equilibrium
• Metaphor as liaison between visceral and cerebral man

• CS Lewis
• Myth as balance between abstract and concrete
• Balance between world of intellect and world of experience
• Metaphor may be fundamental to the way we experience and think
• Cognitive experiential self theory1,2
• Grounded cognition3 and embodied cognition4
• Conceptual metaphor5
• Bridge between cognition and experience
• Deeper level of processing

• Metaphor as a vehicle for change
• 4 Phases/Stages
• 1. Enter the client’s metaphoric imagination
• 2. Explore client’s metaphoric imagination
• 3. Transformation of client’s metaphoric image
• 4. Connect metaphoric patterns and life problems
• Buffer and bridge for approaching hard material
• Art therapy, play therapy
• Clinical examples

• Chess match/ chess master
• Dance/ dance partner
• Journey/ fellow traveler
• Saving the world/ superhero

• The metaphor for how one conceptualizes the change process naturally affects and influences the therapists sense of and perceived need for self-care
• Superhero vs. journey
• Burnout
• Compassion fatigue

• “Paying attention

on purpose,

in the presentmoment,

and nonjudgmentally” 6

• Psychological, neurobiological, physical, interpersonal
• Increases awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, emotions; unhelpful ways of coping with stress (avoidance, fusion)
• Fosters curiosity, acceptance, interconnectedness
• Rooted in Buddhist meditative disciplines

• Can be taught and practiced (neural plasticity)
• Mindfulness-based approaches: MBSR, MBCT, DBT, ACT
• Clients (i.e., ↓depression, anxiety, psychosis, PTSD, OCD, ↑ pain tolerance, PA)7
• Therapists-in-training (↓ stress, NA, anxiety; ↑PA, self-compassion) 8
• Clinician/self as instrument: client outcomes of mindful therapists-in-training(↓ anxiety, anger, somatization, obsessiveness, paranoia)9
• Mirror neuron systems may enhance empathy
• Mindfulness fosters intrapersonal attunement which may, in turn, enhance interpersonal attunement

• Experiential exercises
• How do we know when we’re feeling out of tune?
• Body Scan
• “Leaves on a stream”
• How do we know how to proceed? How do we sustain our instrument?
• “Retirement party”

Justine Grosso

Justine_Grosso@Baylor.edu

Matt Breuninger

Matt_Breuninger@Baylor.edu

1 Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709-724.

2 Epstein, S. (1998). Cognitive-experiential self-theory: A dual process personality theory with implications for diagnosis and psychotherapy. In R. F. Bornstein & J. M. Masling (Eds.), Empirical perspectives on the psychoanalytic unconscious (Vol. 7, pp. 99-140). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

3 Barsalou, L. W. (2010). Grounded cognition: past, present, and future. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(4), 716-724.

4Wilson, A. D., & Golonka, S. (2013). Embodied cognition is not what you think it is. Frontiers in psychology, 4.

5Wickman, S. A., Daniels, M. H., White, L. J., & Fesmire, S. A. (1999). A “primer” in conceptual metaphor for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(4), 389-394.

6Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living. Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York, NY: Random House.

7Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169-183.

8Shapiro, S. L., Brown, K. W., & Biegel, G. M. (2007). Teaching self-care to caregivers: Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the mental health of therapists in training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 1(2), 105-115.

9Grepmair, L., Mitterlehner, F., Loew, T., & Nickel, M. (2007). Promotion of mindfulness in psychotherapists in training: Preliminary styudy. European Psychiatry, 22, 485-489.

10Wise, E. H., Hersh, M. A., & Gibson, C. M. (2012). Ethics, self-care and well-being for psychologists: Reenvisioning the stress-distress continuum. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(5), 487-494.