When Skill and Wisdom Merge

Abstract

Sam Hamburg's (2018) case studies of the use of metaphoric tasks in psychotherapy take us into the storied course of therapy with "Margie" and with "Amy." In the nuances of Hamburg's accounts of these two sometimes similar, often different case studies, we see how metaphoric tasks can be conceived, implemented, and understood, and how the sensory-evoking, relationship-enhancing potential of metaphor can be enacted. We also see at work a deeply committed, thoughtful, and skilled practitioner-researcher who is, at once, cautious in his claims about the relation between metaphor use and therapy outcome, confident in what he knows about the practice of psychotherapy, and wise in his integration of the two.