This project work is going to examine and analyze how depression is conceptualized in magazine articles. My analysis is based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory established by Lakoff and Johnson. First, it will give a theoretical overview concerning Lakoff & Johnson’s theory. Secondly, both the language material (corpus) and the method used to analyze it will be presented. The analysis of the language material will be presented in chapter four, followed by a summary which will conclude the findings. As stated by "Anxiety and Depression Association of America" (ADAA), 264 million people worldwide live with the mood disorder depression. According to the Oxford Learners Dictionary, depression is “a medical condition in which a person feels very sad and anxious and often has physical symptoms such as being unable to sleep".
On the other hand, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), "depression is more than just sadness. People with depression may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide." Metaphorical expressions are frequently used in everyday communication to refer to abstract concepts, for instance feelings or mental states. Metaphors are one of the linguistic tools that are used to frame mental health problems, verbalize and describe disease conditions.
Hence, psychological disorders can be metaphorically described as places in space where someone has fallen into or as adversaries that need to be fought against. Based on the principles of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff & Johnson, McMullen & Conway and Charteris-Black, have studied metaphors of depression. McCullen & Conway draw upon data which is collected from a study of client depression-related metaphors through psychotherapy sessions to show the pervasiveness of specific conceptual metaphors. Charteris-Black looked at metaphors of depression in interviews of people who had experienced it.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical basis
2.1 Basic terminology
2.2 Metaphorical ICM’s
2.3 Novel metaphor
3. Corpus and method
3.1 Corpus
3.2 Method
4. Analysis
4.1 DEALING WITH DEPRESSION IS WAR
4.2 DEPRESSION IS DESCENT
4.2.1 DEPRESSION IS BEING TRAPPED
4.3 DEPRESSION IS DARKNESS
4.4 DEPRESSION IS A CONTAINER
4.5 DEPRESSION IS A MOBILE ENTITY
4.6 Metaphorical scenario: Living with depression is boating
5. Summary
Research Objectives and Themes
This academic work aims to analyze how the concept of depression is linguistically framed within popular science magazine articles. By applying the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the study identifies and categorizes the metaphorical mappings used to describe the experience of depression, ultimately uncovering how these linguistic choices influence our understanding of mental health.
- Application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to mental health discourse.
- Identification of common metaphorical source domains such as war, descent, and darkness.
- Analysis of the persona and agency of depression through mobile entity metaphors.
- Examination of the psychological impact of specific linguistic framing.
- Exploration of metaphorical scenarios, such as the boating metaphor, in representing the patient experience.
Excerpt from the Book
4.1 DEALING WITH DEPRESSION IS WAR
DEALING WITH DEPRESSION IS WAR establishes a conceptual mapping between the source domain WAR and the target domain DEPRESSION. The metaphorical expressions with the use of the source domain WAR are transferred to the target domain of DEPRESSION. According to Semino (2008: 177), depression can be viewed as an enemy or opponent, patients and sufferers as soldiers. On the one hand, depression acts as an enemy/opponent, while on the other hand, there is the sick person conceptualized in an inferior position. The disorder is seen as an entity attempting to exert control over the sick person. Both are warring parties in this case where the sick person “battles” depression, in an attempt to defeat it. Even though the first three examples indicate an action of war by using the verbs combat, battle, and fight, there are semantic nuances among the verbs. The verbs combat and battle are more confined to a war scenario in terms of their physical meaning suggesting an armed encounter and thus show even more warlike actions. In contrast, the verb fight is broader used and has several other senses both as a noun and verb. It refers to any kind of physical struggle, also figuratively to mean to struggle against anything. The three expressions have different connotations but the same denotation (literal meaning).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter outlines the global prevalence of depression and introduces the study's objective to examine its conceptualization in magazine articles using Conceptual Metaphor Theory.
2. Theoretical basis: This chapter provides the foundation for the analysis by defining key concepts like conceptual metaphor, linguistic realization, ICMs, and the distinction between source and target domains.
3. Corpus and method: This chapter describes the selection process of seven magazine articles from Psychology Today and details the onomasiological cognitive metaphor analysis applied to the data.
4. Analysis: This chapter presents the core analysis of how depression is metaphorically mapped across various domains, including war, descent, containment, and mobility, while also discussing the boating scenario.
5. Summary: This chapter reviews the findings, confirming that metaphors are essential tools for making abstract mental health disorders more apprehensible and highlighting the dominance of war and descent metaphors.
Keywords
Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Depression, Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Source Domain, Target Domain, Mental Health, Metaphorical Mapping, Psychology Today, Cognitive Linguistics, War Metaphor, Descent Metaphor, Container Metaphor, Mobile Entity, Onomasiological Analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The work focuses on the linguistic analysis of how the abstract concept of depression is framed metaphorically in popular science articles, specifically within Psychology Today.
What are the core themes explored?
The main themes include the identification of conceptual mappings such as DEPRESSION IS WAR, DEPRESSION IS DESCENT, DEPRESSION IS DARKNESS, and DEPRESSION IS A CONTAINER.
What is the main objective of the study?
The objective is to reveal how these metaphors shape the public understanding of depression and how they impact the perception of the sufferer's agency and recovery.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The study utilizes the Conceptual Metaphor Theory established by Lakoff and Johnson, following the methodological instructions for onomasiological cognitive metaphor analysis by Jäkel.
What is covered in the main section?
The main section systematically analyzes how depression is described as an enemy, a downward path, a trapped space, a moving entity, and a boating experience.
Which keywords define this work?
Keywords include Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Depression, Discourse Analysis, Cognitive Linguistics, and various specific metaphorical domains like War, Descent, and Container.
How is the "DEPRESSION IS WAR" metaphor specifically analyzed?
The analysis investigates verbs like combat, battle, and fight to show how they frame depression as an adversary, creating a battlefield scenario that impacts the sufferer's sense of empowerment.
What makes the "boating" scenario unique in this research?
The boating scenario is identified as a metaphorical scenario that illustrates a lack of direction and agency, portraying the patient as passive while being moved by "currents" of depression.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anonym (Autor:in), 2022, How is Depression Conceptualized in Popular Science Articles in Psychology Today? Conceptual Metaphor Analysis, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1182743
