Cognitive analysis of conceptual metaphors for depression from the perspective of clinical psychologists: A qualitative study

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Ph.D. in cognitive science of language, Institute of Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is conceptualized by metaphors, according to this point, this study aimed to analyze some of the main cognitive metaphors for depression from the perspective of clinical psychologists.
 
Materials and Methods: The method of this research was a qualitative-cognitive analysis study. In the first phase, the population of study was all the clinical psychologists who treat depressed patients in Tehran, Iran in 2021. Then, 30 clinical psychologists were selected by the purposive sampling method according to the theoretical saturation rule. Participants were asked to provide descriptions of depression that depressed patients gave them, which led to a rapid diagnosis of depression. Their conversation was recorded and collected by WhatsApp voice recording. In the second phase of this study, the population of 625 metaphorical phrases was obtained. According to the theoretical saturation rule, 200 phrases were selected purposively. Phrases and statements in which the depression and its symptoms were metaphorically expressed were manually separated and categorized.
 
Results: The results of this study demonstrated that there were 7 important source domains for depression in Persian-speaking depressed patients. They are respectively included place, container, path, direction, object, human, taste, and color. Place, container, path, and direction are the most mapping for depression.
 
Conclusion: According to the embodiment rule and like other abstract concepts, it seems that depression can be understood and conceptualized by cognitive metaphors.

Keywords

References

  1. Chand SP, Arif H, Kutlenios RM. Depression (Nursing). 2021 Jul 26. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
  2. Sekhon S, Gupta V. Mood disorder. 2021 May 8. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
  3. Bains N, Abdijadid S. Major Depressive Disorder. 2021 Apr 20. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. PMID: 32644504.
  4. Malhi GS, Mann JJ. Depression. Lancet 2018; 392(10161): 2299-312.
  5. Maramis MM, Mahajudin MS, Khotib J. Impaired cognitive flexibility and working memory precedes depression: A Rat model to study depression. Neuro-psychobiology 2021; 80(3): 225-33.
  6. Formánek T, Csajbók Z, Wolfová K, Kučera M, Tom S, Aarsland D, Cermakova P. Trajectories of depressive symptoms and associated patterns of cognitive decline. Sci Rep 2020; 10(1): 20888.
  7. Negt P, Brakemeier EL, Michalak J, Winter L, Bleich S, Kahl KG. The treatment of chronic depression with cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled clinical trials. Brain Behav 2016; 6(8): e00486.
  8. Liu D, Mo Q. Conceptual metaphors and image schemas: A corpus analysis of the development of the on track/off track idiom pair. J Eng Linguis 2020; 48(2): 137-65.
  9. Müller N, Nagels A, Kauschke C. Metaphorical expressions originating from human senses: Psycholinguistic and affective norms for German metaphors for internal state terms (MIST database). Behav Res Methods 2022; 54: 365-77.
  10. Lakoff G. The contemporary theory of metaphor. In: Ortony A. (editor). Metaphor and thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University; 1993: 202-51.
  11. Gibbs Jr RW, editor. The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University; 2008.
  12. Kövecses K. Metaphor universals in literature. Argumentum 2019; 15: 264-76.
  13. Raiisi F, Afrashi A, Nematzadeh SH, Moghadasin M. [Conceptual metaphors of time in Persian: A cognitive and corpus-based approach]. Journal of Western Iranian languages and dialects 2020; 8: 15-29. (Persian)
  14. Raiisi F. Conceptual metaphors of pain in Persian: A cognitive analysis. International journal of musculoskeletal pain prevention 2021; 6(2): 496-501.
  15. Raiisi F. Cognitive analysis of quality of life metaphors from the perspective of health promotion students. Health education and health promotion 2022; 10(2): 1-8.
  16. Kövecses Z. Levels of metaphor. Cogn Linguist 2017; 28(2): 321-47.
  17. Kövecses Where metaphors come from. Reconsidering context in metaphor. Oxford: Oxford University; 2015.
  18. Lakoff G, Johnson M. Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western philosophy. New York: Basic Books; 1999.
  19. Kövecses Z. Perception and metaphor. Perception metaphors 2019; 19: 327.
  20. Kövecses Z. Metaphor and emotion: Language, culture, and body in human feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University; 2000.
  21. Kiseleva S, Trofimova N. Metaphor as a device for understanding cognitive concepts. Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos 2017; 23(2): 226-46.
  22. Johnson M. The body in the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago; 1987.
  23. Raiisi F, Afrashi A, Moghadasin M, Hajkaram A, Nematzadeh SH. [Understanding of metaphorical time pattern among medical and paramedical students. based on gender, age and academic status]. Scientific journal of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences 2019; 24(4): 56-67. (Persian)
  24. Patten S. Medical models and metaphors for depression. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2015; 24(4): 303-8.
  25. Coll-Florit M, Climent S, Sanfilippo M, Hernández-Encuentra E. Metaphors of depression. Studying first person accounts of life with depression published in blogs. Metaphor Symb 2021; 36(1): 1-19.
  26. Kauschke C, Mueller N, Kircher T, Nagels A. Do patients with depression prefer literal or metaphorical expressions for internal states? Evidence from sentence completion and elicited production. Front Psychol 2018; 9: 1326.
  27. Refaie EE. Looking on the dark and bright side: Creative metaphors of depression in two graphic memoirs, a/b. Autobiogr Stud 2014; 29(1): 149-74.
  28. Schoeneman TJ, Schoeneman KA, Stallings S. The black struggle: Metaphors of depression in Styron's darkness visible. J Soc Clin Psychol 2004; 23(3): 325-46.
  29. Riyassi M. [The effectiveness of computerized working memory training and integrated computerized working memory program with direct language intervention (based on time metaphor) on linguistic-cognitive skills of children with cochlear implant]. Ph.D. Dissertation. Institute for Cognitive Science Studies (ICSS); 2021. (Persian)
  30. Raiisi F, Moghadasin M. [Designing, making, and evaluating psychometric characteristics of the time perception pattern as metaphorical questionnaire based on cognitive-dataset analysis in Persians]. Journal of cognitive psychology 2020; 8(2): 76-86. (Persian)
  31. Saunders B, Sim J, Kingstone T, Baker S, Waterfield J, Bartlam B, et al. Saturation in qualitative research: Exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Qual Quant 2018; 52(4): 1893-907.
  32. Fahlenbrach K. Audiovisual metaphors and metonymies of emotions and depression in moving images. In: Ervas F, et al. (editors). Metaphor in communication, science and education. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 2017: 95-117.
  33. Levitt H, Korman Y, Angus L. A metaphor analysis in treatments of depression: Metaphor as a marker of change. Counseling psychology quarterly 2000; 13(1): 23-35.
Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 24, Issue 3
May and June 2022
Pages 145-151

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics