Metaphors of Depression. Studying First Person Accounts of Life with Depression Published in Blogs

Abstract

This work analyzes the conceptual metaphors of depression in a corpus of 23 blogs written in Catalan by people suffering major depressive disorder. Its main aim was comparative, in order to check whether metaphors detected in previous studies were also used in a new genre and a new language. Their use was confirmed, thus reinforcing the metaphors’ relevance and their conceptual (i.e. non language-dependent) nature. Furthermore, the study broadens the scope of the conceptualization of life with depression with a set of metaphors not attested before, mostly related to social, communicative and medical factors. The results suggest that the containment and constraint that characterize a crucial part of the metaphorical discourse of depression are not only imposed by the disorder itself, but also by contextual factors (such as stigma, lack of communication, or the medical practice perceived as a repressive power) that can have a significant impact on the lives people with depression lead. They also suggest that the very nature of blogging as a genre allows these people to provide more accurate depictions of their condition, thus providing a more comprehensive account of metaphors of life with depression and potentially empowering them.