Method evaluation
Advantages:
Information synthesis
The main advantage of using metaphors in career counselling is the capacity to synthesise
a complex area of information in a relatively simple image. Metaphors allow people to
integrate elements from various spheres: emotional, cognitive, behavioural, etc., which in
certain situations are separate or the connection between them is far from evident. The
role of this image is not only to describe “what it is”, but also to promote insights upon
career (Amundson, 1988).
Each imagine has central and background elements. In counselling, reframing may
involve shifting the stress from central to background elements and changing the
importance of each element.
Operating with images
Metaphors help visualize situations. Using simple and familiar images we are in a better
position to initiate career-related actions. In counselling, more often than not, efforts are
directed to verbal persuasion. Although the importance of verbal exchanges cannot be
disputed, the area of the counselling can be enlarged by activities using other means of
knowledge or information support.
Information structuring
Metaphors can help structure and organize a situation. In case of confusion and lack of
clarity, metaphors can help arrange elements and bring coherence. The link between
reality and metaphor is double. Although we usually employ metaphors to better
understand reality, it is not unusual to go back and forth between reality and metaphor,
each helping build the other.
Reducing anxiety
People who seek career counselling often have unclear perspectives, are confused,
anxious, with low self-confidence and a feeling of helplessness related to new career
development opportunities.
In association with familiar situations, metaphors allow reducing anxiety and increasing
the feeling of self-effectiveness. Transforming the unknown into familiar can engage one
more actively in generating one’s own options for solving the situation.
Developing creativity
Metaphors underline the similarity between an action, object, or experience on the one
hand and a familiar event on the other. Same event can be conceptualised differently
function of the personal experiences. Several perspectives on the situation create a