In the last few years the significance of metaphor for psychodynamic theory and therapy has been extensively studied whereas its occurrence in psychoanalytic research has been hardly analyzed. After succinct recapitulations of contemporary psychoanalytic works on metaphor, the authors concentrate on how research results from fields outside psychoanalysis can enhance the conception of metaphor employed in psychoanalytic inquiry. The authors demonstrate how adopting a metaphorical angle can benefit theoretical and empirical psychoanalysis.