ABSTRACT
We remember being new to ACT. We remember learning lots of ‘off the shelf’ metaphors from books, videos, and training courses. We remember applying these enthusiastically with our clients. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with taking ‘classic’ ACT metaphors and using them in this way – they are ‘classic’ for a reason. However, it is also important to retain a focus on function rather than form, as has been said previously. Thus, our recommendation would be to ensure that the use of metaphor is targeted in the service of achieving specific transformations of functions, rather than simply using metaphors because they are well known or because they worked before with another client.
