Therapy and The Mental Gym: How Metaphors HelpYour Workout

My clients often say, “‘I just can’t find the right words. It’s too hard to explain.” Describing your thoughts and emotions can feel like trying to hold water in your bare hands... It's cool against your skin and clear enough to see, but it slips through your fingers, refuses to stay still, and no matter how hard you try, it eventually falls away. A metaphor works like pouring that water into a cup, suddenly there’s shape, structure, and something you can actually work with. In therapy, metaphors serve as reference points, shared landmarks clients and therapists can both point to in conversation, and can return to later on. In fact, research shows, metaphors actually activate brain regions tied to both memory and emotion, making them “stickier” than literal explanations (Bohrn et al.,2012). One study found that when people imagine stress as “a heavy backpack,” our brains respond as if we’re carrying actual weight (Gallese & Lakoff, 2005). Other research suggests that naming an experience, even metaphorically, helps regulate emotions by calming the brain’s alarm system (Lieberman et al., 2007). Metaphors don’t just explain, they help you remember, regulate, and communicate.

I like to think of therapy as The Mental Gym (metaphorically speaking). A training space, alongside your therapist as your personal trainer always ready to spot you. In session, you learn proper form, skills like grounding or reframing your narrative, and between sessions, you build the reps. Progress isn’t about perfection, it’s about realizing you can lift something emotionally that once left you flat on the floor. Setbacks are like sore muscles or skipped workouts--uncomfortable, yes, but also signs you’re stretching and strengthening. Over time, you become your own trainer, knowing when to push, when to rest, and which “muscles” need more attention. Maybe you need to focus on resilience for anxiety, endurance for depression, or flexibility for relationships. In your next session, try using a metaphor to describe a difficult emotion. It may transform something that's hard to explain into something you can carry, something you can work with, and something that reminds you, even on tough days, that you’ve been training for this.