metaphor OUTLINE

This type of metaphor is used extensively in pain control therapy. The client is asked to visualise a control panel of some sort. In the centre is a large glass dial like a clock with a large indicator hand that can move up and down the scale. The client is told that the dial represents their current state of something, their happiness, their pain level, their degree of mobility - whatever it is they want to control. Any time they want to change their level of comfort all they have to do is call up the control panel and move the dial. The client is instructed to make their condition slightly worse, so that the indicator on the dial moves up. This is done to give the client an experience of control, to believe that they can actually make a difference to their own condition. The client is then instructed to move the dial the other way, to make their condition slightly better. Once the client discovers that they actually have some conscious control over their condition they are much more willing to accept the idea that they can manage their own care.
This simple metaphor is remarkably effective for a wide range of conditions.

 

Control panel

I wonder if you can imagine a control panel..... something with maybe a big dial in the middle.... part of a machine perhaps.... or it could just be the dial on a car, where you press the pedal the car speeds up....or it could have knobs that turn,.... or... you might be familiar with the kind of thing you get on some stereo systems.... where as you slide the control up, the sound goes up and a needle moves..... and you slide it down and the sound goes down..... or maybe some other kind of panel comes to mind that lets you control a process.....

 

Now I would like you to pay attention to the biggest indicator on that control panel.... I don't know if it is like the hands on a clock or like a speedometer with one big hand in the middle.... or maybe it's a digital read out with numbers showing..... or maybe it's like the moving bars of light you see on some music systems... it can be anything you want...

 

and look very closely at that indicator..... you know when you look at the speedometer on a car, no matter how hard you try it never stays exactly on the speed you want... it is always wavering up or down a fraction.... isn't it?

 

And if you look very closely at your indicator..... you will find that it is also varying just a little.... up and down a little..... fluctuating around some point...not quite steady.... isn't it?

 

Because processes are never exactly steady, are they? There is always a.... ...some variation. A little higher, a little lower. And you can use this.... you can think of your pain now and find where on the dial it is.... or what number it is ... and you can think of your pain as being on a scale of one to ten, where one is no pain and ten is the worse it could possibly be.... and imagine that the indicator on your control panel is showing the exact level of your pain right now.... and here's the interesting thing.... that indicator is moving exactly in step with your pain.... your pain is varying a tiny bit moment to moment, isn't it? and that indicator is varying a tiny bit moment to moment as well.

 

And now I'd like you to test that connection. I'd like you to test if you can make that indicator go up a little.... right now... I would like you to increase your pain just a little.... just a little.... but enough so that it registers on the indicator....and when you have done that... you will find that the indicator settles and wavers up and down around a different value, doesn't it?

 

And now I would like you to.... just for a moment.... really make that pain increase.... so that the indicator moves strongly.... up and then falls back again..... and by doing that you have shown that you have control over the level of pain you experience.... and you know you can make it increase.... I wonder if you know that you can make it decrease as well?

 

So now. focus on that indicator....that dial, or whatever you are using.... focus on the number that the indicator is showing... and now make that indicator move down..... just a little... reduce your pain level so that the dial goes down to a lower point and the reading wavers around that lower point.... you can do that easily..... just a little.... can't you.... now...

 

And now.... move that indicator down a lot..... make a significant movement down.... and feel that pain recede, feel a real difference as the indicator goes down and stays down.... and now move that indicator down even lower.... all the way down to the bottom..... all the way down..... and now move it up just a little from the bottom... so that there is just a tiny bit of pain left for you... pain is a message that there is something not right... that you should be careful with that part of the body,.... so you can leave a little.... just enough to remind you that you need to take a little care.....

 

And you have now learned how to control this thing.... and anytime you want to vary the level .... any time you forget..... you can use the control panel..... move that indicator.... and it will move with it.... You are in control... and isn't that something good to know?

 

 

 

• Index to Metaphors