Metaphor and the notion of control in trauma talk
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Dennis Tay
Dennis Tay is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a cognitive linguist and discourse analyst, and has been researching the linguistic and discursive characteristics of psychotherapeutic metaphors in different cultural contexts including the United States, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
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Jennifer Jordan
Jennifer Jordan is Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. She has been involved with a series of randomized clinical trials evaluating different psychotherapies for serious mental disorders including eating disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to the Christchurch earthquakes.
Abstract
Metaphor use in psychotherapy practice has been influenced by conceptual metaphor theory and the “internal target–external source” assumption, where targets comprise abstract therapeutic issues, while sources comprise concrete conceptual materials external to the therapeutic setting. The relevance of metaphor is hence questionable in trauma talk, since traumatic events involve intense bodily experiences which are already concrete and do not require any external inferential support. We examine transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 14 subjects following the 2010–2012 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, focusing on the role of metaphor in their conceptualization of a sense of “control” over their immediate physical environment, and more abstract aspects of their lives in the earthquakes’ aftermath. We discuss four discursive patterns which show how speakers used metaphor as a mechanism to extend or refocus initial discussion of physical control, to subsequent discussion of abstract control. This suggests that metaphor goes beyond a conceptualization role to play a “scaffolding” role in trauma talk, where an initial target topic may serve as a source concept for a subsequent target topic. Therapists therefore do not necessarily have to “look externally” for productive source domains, but could capitalize upon conceptual materials which present themselves as therapeutic interaction unfolds.
Funding statement: Funding: This article was supported by the Dean’s Reserve grant of the Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [1-ZVB3].
About the authors
Dennis Tay is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a cognitive linguist and discourse analyst, and has been researching the linguistic and discursive characteristics of psychotherapeutic metaphors in different cultural contexts including the United States, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
Jennifer Jordan is Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. She has been involved with a series of randomized clinical trials evaluating different psychotherapies for serious mental disorders including eating disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to the Christchurch earthquakes.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- “Wicked” women in contemporary pop culture: “bad” language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace
- The interplay between agency and constraint: some departures from the organization of talk in the classroom
- Thematic choice and progression in English and Chinese radio news texts: a systemic functional analysis
- An interactional account of discourse-connective que-constructions in Spanish
- A new perspective on stories in public deliberation: analyzing small stories in discussions about immigration
- Metaphor and the notion of control in trauma talk
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- “Wicked” women in contemporary pop culture: “bad” language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace
- The interplay between agency and constraint: some departures from the organization of talk in the classroom
- Thematic choice and progression in English and Chinese radio news texts: a systemic functional analysis
- An interactional account of discourse-connective que-constructions in Spanish
- A new perspective on stories in public deliberation: analyzing small stories in discussions about immigration
- Metaphor and the notion of control in trauma talk
