Metaphor framing and distress in lived-experience accounts of voice-hearing

Turning metaphor on its head: a "target-to-source transformation" approach in statistics education

Many practical applications of metaphors are based on the idea that they are static TARGET IS SOURCE structures that support unidirectional meaning transfer for various purposes. Examples include healthcare and education where metaphors build cognitive and communicative bridges between the abstract and concrete. However, real-world metaphor use is often more dynamic than static, raising the question of how practical applications could benefit from a more correspondingly dynamic perspective. Drawing upon learning models that view learner output as creative transformations of input, this article introduces a "target-to-source transformation" approach that (i) initially frames concepts unfamiliar to novice learners as metaphorical targets as per received wisdom, but after some time, and (ii) invites learners to transform these targets into source domains for new target domains of their choosing. A pilot implementation is reported in the context of a statistics course, in particular the concept of regression analysis, for humanities students. Examples of transformed metaphors include different aspects of regression as sources for creative targets like "arranging a meeting time for friends," "finding a life partner," and "fortune-telling." Analysis of these examples suggests that the approach creates a sense of pedagogical consistency, allows students to exercise creativity, and gives teachers novel insights into their level of understanding. Points for critical reflection will also be raised for future development of the approach, including the need to consider oft-overlooked metalinguistic attitudes held by laypersons toward metaphors.

Blogging through dementia: Reworking mainstream discourse through metaphor in online early-onset dementia narratives

Background

The depiction of dementia in public discourse tends to operate on two levels: the tragedy discourse or the living well with dementia discourse, where metaphors play a decisive role in the characterization of the condition and the voice of those living with the condition is usually underrepresented.

Purpose

This article analyzes whether and how mainstream discourse on dementia is reworked in first-person accounts of the disease online and explores the attitudes and assumptions about dementia that illness blogs reflect and defy.

Study design

Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the article analyzes a corpus of 10 blogs (622 posts) written by individuals living with early-onset dementia to identify the metaphors used to depict dementia, its impact on the self and its social and relational aspects. Metaphor identification was based on the PRAGGLEJAZ metaphor identification procedure.

Results

The study demonstrates that across blogs no single metaphor alone is capable of capturing the complexity of the dementia experience; instead multiple metaphors are deployed to provide a characterization of the multiple faces of this condition. In this way blogs transcend and reshape the reductionist view of dementia that emerges from the either/or dichotomy of the tragedy versus living well with dementia discourses that dominate in media representations. By reshaping some of the metaphors used in mainstream discourse and introducing new ones, blog narratives draw attention to the complex nature of the experience of dementia, acknowledging both the suffering and social and functional losses that the condition brings, while also claiming recognition for personhood, agency, validation, and the aspiration to grow beyond the diagnosis and live a valued life as part of a family and community.

Conclusions

Overall, this study demonstrates that metaphor is a useful tool for providing insights into people’s experience of dementia and that blogs are a platform where stereotypes may be defied and mainstream representations of dementia reworked offering a more holistic view of the condition and granting narrative agency to those who live with dementia.

'I don't live in my body somehow': metaphorical talk in women's accounts of vaginismus and dyspareunia

Vaginismus and dyspareunia are common sexual difficulties; they often take a long time to be appropriately diagnosed, and their origins remain unclear. This paper examines the metaphors used by women to describe bodily experiences associated with vaginismus and dyspareunia, and highlights the contribution this form of analysis can make to the study of sexuality and sexual difficulties. A secondary analysis was conducted on primary data from biographic interviews exploring women's experiences of sexual pain and difficulties with sexual intercourse. Metaphor analysis was used to analyse a data subset of 28 interviews translated from German into English. Metaphorical concepts lying at the basis of the metaphors used were identified and grouped into three themes: characterisation of sexual difficulties; split body and 'self'; and sexual agency and objectification. Results are discussed with in the context of literature regarding the function of metaphors and the utility of metaphor analysis for research, and healthcare research and interventions more generally.

A linguistic approach to the psychosis continuum: (dis)similarities and (dis)continuities in how clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers talk about their voices

Introduction: "Continuum" approaches to psychosis have generated reports of similarities and differences in voice-hearing in clinical and non-clinical populations at the cohort level, but not typically examined overlap or degrees of difference between groups. Methods: We used a computer-aided linguistic approach to explore reports of voice-hearing by a clinical group (Early Intervention in Psychosis service-users; N = 40) and a non-clinical group (spiritualists; N = 27). We identify semantic categories of terms statistically overused by one group compared with the other, and by each group compared to a control sample of non-voice-hearing interview data (log likelihood (LL) value 6.63+=p < .01; effect size measure: log ratio 1.0+). We consider whether individual values support a continuum model. Results: Notwithstanding significant cohort-level differences, there was considerable continuity in language use. Reports of negative affect were prominent in both groups (p < .01, log ratio: 1.12+). Challenges of cognitive control were also evident in both cohorts, with references to "disengagement" accentuated in service-users (p < .01, log ratio: 1.14+). Conclusion: A corpus linguistic approach to voice-hearing provides new evidence of differences between clinical and non-clinical groups. Variability at the individual level provides substantial evidence of continuity with implications for cognitive mechanisms underlying voice-hearing.