1887
Volume 12, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2210-4070
  • E-ISSN: 2210-4097
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study examines the use of metaphors of and in a million-word corpus of Spanish-language blogs written by patients with severe mental disorders and by mental health professionals. Quantitative results indicate that both metaphors are more prevalent among patients than professionals, supporting the idea that they are mostly used in this context for communicating complex and emotionally intense experiences. From a qualitative perspective, our results show that patients use both metaphors to deal with exactly the same ontological elements of the situation (the disorder, symptoms, negative emotions, everyday problems, social prejudice, medical activity, people close to the patients and the patients themselves) but framing them differently. Further analysis shows that both metaphors have positive and negative uses in terms of emotions conveyed, empowerment and suitability for coping with the situation. In light of this, we conclude with a discussion of proposals promoting the positive uses of these metaphors.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/msw.21035.col
2022-05-31
2025-02-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Casares, J.
    (1981) Diccionario ideológico de la lengua española [Ideological dictionary of the Spanish language]. Gustavo Gili.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Climent, S., & Coll-Florit, M.
    (2017) La metáfora conceptual en el discurso psiquiátrico sobre la esquizofrenia [Conceptual metaphor in psychiatric discourse on schizophrenia]. Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (AELFE), 34, 187–208.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Coll-Florit, M., & Climent, S.
    (2019) A new methodology for conceptual metaphor detection and formulation in corpora. A case study on a mental health corpus. SKY Journal of Linguistics, 32, 43–74.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Coll-Florit, M., Miranda, X., & Climent, S.
    (2019) Metáforas de la esquizofrenia: Un estudio sobre el discurso de afectados y profesionales [Metaphors of schizophrenia. Discourse analysis of sufferers and professionals]. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 32(1), 1–31. 10.1075/resla.16003.col
    https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.16003.col [Google Scholar]
  5. Coll-Florit, M., Climent, S., Sanfilippo, M. & Hernández, E.
    (2021a) Metaphors of depression. Studying first person accounts of life with depression published in blogs. Metaphor and Symbol, 36(1), 1–19. 10.1080/10926488.2020.1845096
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2020.1845096 [Google Scholar]
  6. Coll-Florit, M., Oliver, A. & Climent, S.
    (2021b) Metaphors of mental illness: a corpus-based approach analysing first-person accounts of patients and mental health professionals. Culture, Language and Representation, 25, 85–104. 10.6035/clr.2021.25.5
    https://doi.org/10.6035/clr.2021.25.5 [Google Scholar]
  7. Correa-Urquiza, M., Pié, A., Coll-Florit, M., Hernández, E. & Climent, S.
    (2020) Orgullo loco y metáforas para una disidencia: un análisis lingüístico y simbólico [Mad pride and metaphors for dissidence: a linguistic and symbolic analysis]. Salud Colectiva, 16: e2886. 10.18294/sc.2020.2886
    https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2020.2886 [Google Scholar]
  8. Demjén, Z.
    (2011) Motion and conflicted self metaphors in Sylvia Plath’s “Smith Journal”. Metaphor and the Social World, 1(1), 7–25. 10.1075/msw.1.1.02dem
    https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.1.1.02dem [Google Scholar]
  9. (2015) Sylvia Plath and the Language of Affective States: Written Discourse and the Experience of Depression. Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Demjén, Z., Marszalek, A., Semino, E., & Varese, F.
    (2019) Metaphor framing and distress in lived-experience accounts of voice-hearing. Psychosis, 11(1), 16–27. 10.1080/17522439.2018.1563626
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17522439.2018.1563626 [Google Scholar]
  11. Fainsilber, L., & Ortony, A.
    (1987) Metaphorical Uses of Language in the Expression of Emotions. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 2(4), 239–250. 10.1207/s15327868ms0204_2
    https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms0204_2 [Google Scholar]
  12. Flusberg, S. J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P. H.
    (2018) War metaphors in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(1), 1–18. 10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992 [Google Scholar]
  13. Gibbs, R., & Franks, H.
    (2002) Embodied Metaphor in Women Narratives About Cancer. Health Communication, 14(2), 139–165. 10.1207/S15327027HC1402_1
    https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327027HC1402_1 [Google Scholar]
  14. Gustafsson, A. W., Hommerberg, C., & Sandgren, A.
    (2020) Coping by metaphors: the versatile function of metaphors in blogs about living with advanced cancer. Medical Humanities, 46(3), 267–277. 10.1136/medhum‑2019‑011656
    https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2019-011656 [Google Scholar]
  15. Hendricks, R. K., Demjén, Z., Semino, E., & Boroditsky, L.
    (2018) Emotional implications of metaphor: Consequences of metaphor framing for mindset about cancer. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(4), 267–279. 10.1080/10926488.2018.1549835
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1549835 [Google Scholar]
  16. Hommerberg, C., Gustafsson, A. W., & Sandgren, A.
    (2020) Battle, Journey, Imprisonment and Burden: patterns of metaphor use in blogs about living with advanced cancer. BMC Palliative Care, 19, 59. 10.1186/s12904‑020‑00557‑6
    https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-020-00557-6 [Google Scholar]
  17. Knapton, O.
    (2016) Dynamic conceptualizations of threat in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Language and Cognition, 8(1), 1–31. 10.1017/langcog.2015.18
    https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2015.18 [Google Scholar]
  18. Knapton, O. & Rundblad, G.
    (2018) Metaphor, discourse dynamics and register: Applications to written descriptions of mental health problems. Text & Talk, 38(3), 389–410. 10.1515/text‑2018‑0005
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2018-0005 [Google Scholar]
  19. Kövecses, Z.
    (1990) Emotion Concepts. New York: Springer-Verlag. 10.1007/978‑1‑4612‑3312‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3312-1 [Google Scholar]
  20. Lakoff, G.
    (1992) The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In: Ortony, A., (Ed.). Metaphor and thought, 2nd ed. (pp.202–251). Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. (1996) Sorry, I am not myself today: The metaphor system for conceptualizing the self. InG. Fauconnier & E. Sweetser (Eds.), Spaces, worlds, and grammar (pp.91–123). University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M.
    (2003) Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press. (Originally published 1980). 10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  23. Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M.
    (1999) Philosophy in the Flesh. The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. Basic Books
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Lakoff, G. & Turner, M.
    (1989) More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. University of Chicago Press. 10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  25. Magaña, D. & Matlock, T.
    (2018) How Spanish speakers use metaphor to describe their experiences with cancer. Discourse & Communication. 12(6), 627–644. 10.1177/1750481318771446
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481318771446 [Google Scholar]
  26. McMullen, L. M.
    (2008) Putting it in context: Metaphor and psychotherapy. In: Gibbs, R. W. (Ed). The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp.397–411). Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511816802.024
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816802.024 [Google Scholar]
  27. Mould, T. J., Oades, L. G., & Crowe, T. P.
    (2010) The use of metaphor for understanding and managing psychotic experiences: A systematic review. Journal of Mental Health, 19(3), 282–293. 10.3109/09638231003728091
    https://doi.org/10.3109/09638231003728091 [Google Scholar]
  28. Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C.
    (2014) Variation within universals: The ‘metaphorical profile’ approach to the study of ANGER concepts in English, Russian and Spanish. In: Musolff, A. & MacArthur, F. & Pagani, G. (Eds.). Metaphor and intercultural communication (pp.93–116). Bloomsbury. 10.5040/9781472593610.ch‑005
    https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472593610.ch-005 [Google Scholar]
  29. Ortony, A.
    (1975) Why metaphors are necessary and not just nice. Educational Theory, 25, 45–53. 10.1111/j.1741‑5446.1975.tb00666.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.1975.tb00666.x [Google Scholar]
  30. Pragglejaz Group
    Pragglejaz Group (2007) MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39. 10.1080/10926480709336752
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480709336752 [Google Scholar]
  31. Seale, C.
    (2002) Cancer heroics: A study of news reports with particular reference to gender. Sociology, 36(1), 107–126. 10.1177/0038038502036001006
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038502036001006 [Google Scholar]
  32. Schoeneman, T. J., Schoeneman, K. A., & Stallings, S.
    (2004) “The black struggle”: Metaphors of depression in Styron’s darkness visible. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(3), 325–346. 10.1521/jscp.23.3.325.35454
    https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.23.3.325.35454 [Google Scholar]
  33. Semino, E.
    (2008) Metaphor in Discourse. Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Semino, E., Demjén, Z., Demmen, J., Koller, V., Payne, S., Hardie, A., & Rayson, P.
    (2017) The online use of Violence and Journey metaphors by patients with cancer, as compared with health professionals: a mixed methods study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 7, 60–66. 10.1136/bmjspcare‑2014‑000785
    https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2014-000785 [Google Scholar]
  35. Tay, D.
    (2016a) Finding the middle ground between therapist-centred and client-centred metaphor research in psychotherapy. In: O’Reilly, M. (Eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health (pp.558–576). Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9781137496850_29
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137496850_29 [Google Scholar]
  36. (2016b) Using metaphor in healthcare: Mental health. In: Demjén, Z. & Semino, E. (Eds). The Routledge handbook of metaphor and language (pp.371–385). Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. (2021) Metaphor response categories and distribution between therapists and clients: a case study in the Chinese context. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 34(4), 378–394. 10.1080/10720537.2019.1697913
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2019.1697913 [Google Scholar]
  38. World Health Organization
    World Health Organization (2018) International classification of diseases for mortality and morbidity statistics (11th Revision). Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/msw.21035.col
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/msw.21035.col
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): conceptual metaphor; corpus; health communication; mental health
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error