The Creation of a "New Narrative": The use of figurative language in the discourse of battered women

Based on twelve in-depth interviews at a battered women’s support center in Colima, Mexico in 1996, the following paper is an analysis of the figurative language used by battered women at different points of group therapy. This research compares the type of metaphors and similes used by participants at the beginning of the therapeutic process with those used by participants at the end of the same process. The research suggests that women at the beginning of therapy use figurative language to describe a low self-esteem and self-identity, whereas women at the end of the process use figurative language to describe stronger self-esteem and self-identity. The paper examines the way that participants use figurative language to describe feeling “stuck” in feelings of low self-worth, and also explains how figurative language can help women in the process of freeing themselves from this “stuck” feeling.