Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)

Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)

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    • Home
    • Research
    • History
      • Necessary poetry
      • Productive dialogue
      • Safe self-reflection
      • I, metaphor
    • Theory
      • Sense-metaphors
      • Concepts
    • Practice
      • Medical humanities
      • eMRI
      • 5 phase process
      • Rewriting affect
    • Feedback
    • Bio
    • ITALIANO
      • Background
      • Ricerca
      • Teoria
      • In pratica
      • Feedback
      • Bio
    • Free Session Sign-Up

Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)

Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)

The Metaphor Mirror

  • Home
  • Research
  • History
    • Necessary poetry
    • Productive dialogue
    • Safe self-reflection
    • I, metaphor
  • Theory
    • Sense-metaphors
    • Concepts
  • Practice
    • Medical humanities
    • eMRI
    • 5 phase process
    • Rewriting affect
  • Feedback
  • Bio
  • ITALIANO
    • Background
    • Ricerca
    • Teoria
    • In pratica
    • Feedback
    • Bio
  • Free Session Sign-Up

Melissa Johnson Carissimo

Creator of Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP)

Melissa Johnson Carissimo is a certified Person-Centered Counselor and Positive Psychology Coach. 

She is also the Creator of Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP) which she presents and teaches internationally. 


Developed in public hospital settings to help patients express difficult feelings in productive ways, MAP has been researched in oncology, psychiatry, palliative care and nephrology, and as an antidote to professional burnout. At the exciting intersection of medical humanities, expressive writing and positive psychology, MAP is a powerful intervention that generates insight and wellbeing in the context of emotional difficulty. 


Melissa studied at Amherst College and holds a degree in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She divides her time between New York City and Genoa, Italy. She is married with three children and two Jack Russells.



Publications:


- Johnson Carissimo, M. (2020). Metaphoric Affect Processing: Reflecting and transcending self as metaphor. In M. Bazzano (Ed.), Revisioning Existential Therapies: Countertraditional perspectives. London,  Routledge. 


- Johnson Carissimo, M. (2020). Rewriting burnout: Metaphoric Affect Processing and healthcare. Metaphor and the Social World, John Benjamins Publishing Company. 


ask about a free introductory consult

Conferences

Metaphoric Affect Processing (MAP) & The Metaphor Mirror

The Moscow Service of Psychological Assistance to the Population,

Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population

"Psychological Assistance During a Pandemic: From crisis to development"

Annual Scientific and Practical Conference, November 2021

Moscow

- Keynote Speaker/Master Class: "Healing in the Mirror of Our Metaphors: Discovery, Emotion-Regulation and Problem-Solving through Metaphoric Affect Processing"


Researching Metaphor - Cognitive and Other / Autour de la Metaphor: Cognitive et d'Autres Approches

Conference, May 2019

Genoa, Italy

- Presenter: "Metaphoric Affect Processing helps patients identify, verbalize and regulate emotion during kidney dialysis."


Seminar, January 2019 

Moscow

- Seminar leader: full-day introduction to MAP, attended by government-employed psychologists and employment counsellors, offered in simultaneous English to Russian translation:

"Emotion becomes Poetry: Identifying, verbalizing and regulating affect as metaphor, in theory and in practice." 


Moscow Two-Day Intensive; 

Metaphor-based Counseling and Empathic Self-Reflection

Seminar, January 2019

Moscow

- Seminar leader: Two-day self-reflection and empathic listening workshop, culminating in individual metaphor-based problem-solving sessions.


Russian Federation PCA

(Person-Centered Approach)

Conference, October 2018

Moscow

- Guest speaker: Experiential and theoretical seminar via Skype: “Metaphoric affect processing: Emotion becomes poetry.” 


13th World PCE (Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling) 

Conference, July 2018

Vienna

"Facilitating Hope – Personal and Societal Challenges" 

- Presenter: “Metaphor-based dialogue in-hospital: Hope, empathy, and poetic screening for depression.”

- Workshop leader: “The Metaphor Mirror: Identifying, verbalising and regulating affect as metaphor.”


RaAM 12 (Researching and Applying Metaphor) 

Conference, June 2018

Hong Kong 

"Metaphor across Contexts and Domains: from Description to Application"

 - Presenter: “Metaphor-based dialogue in-hospital: Relief, empathy, and screening for depression.” 

- Workshop leader: “Burnout: Awareness and prevention through metaphor-based dialogue.” 


Biblioteca Berio e l’AVO

Conference

Genoa, Italy

"La Forza del Volontariato”

- Guest speaker: “Strumenti d’Ascolto.” 


Biblioteca Berio e l’AVO

Conference

Genoa, Italy 

“La Gioia di Vivere” 

- Guest speaker: "Lo Specchio Metaforico: Il Progetto Pazienti Poeti."

Presenting with Prof. Franco Henriquet, Presidente Ass. Gigi Ghirotti, e Prof. Emilio Maura 


Istituto Giannina Gaslini e l’Associazione Volontari Ospedalieri

Conference

Genoa, Italy

- Guest speaker: “Lo Specchiamento Metaforico e l’Approfondimento dell’Ascolto.” 

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