Using therapeutic imagery and metaphor in the counselling space - pt. 1
- Amber Thornton
- Jul 5
- 6 min read
“We live immediately only in the world of images.” (C.G. Jung) (Jung, CW 8, § 624)
This blog post details a little bit about my approach in the counselling room and a technique that I use in my work. This is part 1, and might be helpful for clients. For counsellors looking to explore this technique in more detail, check out part 2.
This blog post will look at:
What is therapeutic imagery?
How can therapeutic imagery help us with therapeutic change?
Ideas for strengthening our imaging muscle.
What is therapeutic imagery?
Therapeutic imagery is a way of working with feelings using our internal visualising function - the pictures that we might see in our heads when concentrating on a feeling or scenario. In everyday life, we use imagery and metaphor, both in common parlance and also see this in songs, books, TV, and art. For example, saying, 'I feel lost at sea', 'she's as quiet as a mouse', or knowing instinctively that something bad is going to happen on our TV programme when the main character emerges into a thunderstorm.
Images have power to evoke strong feelings and sensations, some of which sit deep in our subconscious mind in ways that may surprise us. For example, we may find ourselves in the counselling room discussing a difficulty at work with a colleague. We could say, our colleague 'is nice enough, but I'm feeling a bit frustrated with so-and-so's behaviour during team meetings', then subsequently describe the colleague as a 'kraken'! We can see the differences in language starkly - 'a bit frustrated' sits on a different level to the image of a large many-tentacled sea creature well known for destroying boats.
For clients, keeping our ears perked for the images that come up can be fantastically helpful to help us understand thoughts, feelings, and other psychological attitudes that we may not have noticed before. In the scenario above, we could recognise that we have deeper negative feelings about our co-worker than we had previously allowed ourselves to notice.
How can therapeutic imagery connect us to therapeutic change?
Images and metaphors are also strongly linked to archetypes, and serve as touchstones to help us understand our internal world. A lot of the time, clients feel relief when they have greater understanding of the issues affecting them, as the feelings surrounding these issues can then be integrated and resolved within the psyche.
In Rogerian thought, our openness to experiencing is seen as really important part of therapeutic change (Rogers, 1967). Loosening ourselves up to experience might be really tough if we've had painful past experiences, that have meant that the feelings in our bodies might be difficult to experience, painful, or threatening. Engaging our visualising muscle can bring up strong feelings, but also might give us a chance to understand our feelings from a different perspective. Jungian thought argues that Active Imagination, a way of engaging imagery through our imagination, is a way to access the unconscious mind (Jung, 1961). If we can interpret symbols and imagery through our imagination and dreams, we have a better chance at understanding more elusive aspects of our psyche, which can help us feel more well.
Ideas for engaging our imagination and the symbolic
Images and symbols engage different areas of the mind, and can connect us to the past, the world, our feelings and different cultures in profound ways.
However, not everyone has the ability to visualise in their mind's eye - a small percentage of the world's population has aphantasia, meaning that they can't conjure images in their head (Dance et al, 2021). If this sounds like you, not to worry. Some of the ways listed below don't require you to use your visualising function.
Try a guided meditation
There are thousands of guided meditations available online, made by psychotherapists, hypnotists, and spiritual teachers. I was recently recommended the app Insight Timer, which is a free resource with thousands of meditations available. Guided meditations can be a great way to practice flexing our imaging muscle. Sometimes the content that comes up during a guided meditation can be scary, frightening, or uncomfortable. Remember that we're simply looking to observe the images, as if we were in an art gallery, and that our feelings are like brightly-lit signs helping us to understand ourselves better.
Free draw in a journal
Free drawing in a journal or piece of paper is a fantastic way of allowing our unconscious mind to supply us with images which we then can interpret. You can play around with this - for example, try to notice the immediate feelings when drawing, then leave and come back and see how those feelings have shifted when you look at it again. You may also want to use an image to help guide your drawing, based on what comes to you to draw out. For example, I recently had the thought 'starfish', so I went on Pinterest and found a photo to copy and paint to help me remember what they look like.
Try out some prompt cards, listen to music, or get inspiration from nature
There are lots of opportunities to connect to the symbolic, some of which you might want to integrate into your wellness practice. For example, I know of clients who have photo albums with lots of different pictures from magazines/greetings cards to pick through. Other clients may sit down and listen to a song and journal about the symbols that came out for them. You might also go for a trip into nature. As you travel, spot all the different creatures and have a think about your symbolic associations.
For example, I might spot a woodlouse. I associate woodlice with soil (grounding, earth), protection (curling up when threatened), and concepts around being small. If you don't like creepy crawlies you may have very different associations! We can then pop these associations in our piggy bank for future therapeutic use. We can also think about how this symbol or image may relate to our current and past experience, whether it's something we'd like to embody or an aspect we'd like to change.
"Hey, don't associate me with the symbolic! I'm just trying to get from a to b!" (Image: Daniel Hourtoulle on Pixabay) Spend some time daydreaming, reading, or listen to an audiobook
In our busy world, it can be hard to find time to sit and daydream. Daydreaming, listening to audiobooks, and reading, can all be fabulous ways of using our visualising capacities.
Practice noticing the metaphors you already use day-to-day!
We might not know it, but we use metaphors and similes all the time. Lots of our common expressions evoke feelings or images Practice noticing the imagery and metaphor around you - from art and media, to adverts, to a chat about the weather. Think about what feelings are elicited from these images and symbols, as they can tell us a lot about our attitudes.
Sunflowers make me think of confidence and positivity, so they're a nice symbolic reminder to have around the house! (image: mine)
I will often enquire about imagery and metaphor in the counselling space. This might mean asking clients to think about what a thought or scenario looks like to them as an person or object, or offering my own reflection based on what a client has spoken about. I also might enquire more about the imagery a client has already mentioned.
When my own therapist has offered imagery, I've found it helps me know that she's understood what I've told her. It has also given me a brilliant springboard to expanding on an image to make my understanding of a problem more dynamic, connected, and visceral.
Stay tuned for Part 2, a guide for psychotherapists and counsellors wanting to expand on their use of imagery in the counselling room from an integrative perspective.
Bibliography
Dance, C.J et al, (2022) "The prevalence of aphantasia (imagery weakness) in the general population", Consciousness and Cognition, vol 97.
Jaffe, A., & Jung, C. G., (1961) Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Jung, C. G., (1969) Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche, in Collected Works.
Rogers, C. (1967), On Becoming a Person, Constable and Robinson, pp 137-139
© Amber Thornton, 2025
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