The role of metaphor in culture, consciousness, and medicine: a preliminary inquiry into the metaphors of depression in chinese and western medical and common languages

Abstract

Part I examines the modern theory of metaphor against the background of progress made in the understanding of consciousness, language, and cognition. The role of metaphor in the construction of medical systems in China and the West is then discussed. An inquiry into the metaphors used in the expression of emotion in English and Chinese follows. Part II of the article will focus on the metaphors of depression in Chinese and English common languages, and the metaphorical implications of the respective medical heritages in each of these. The possibility is that the sharing of medical metaphors cross-culturally has broad implications for the deeper understanding of human dysfunction it suggested. It is also demonstrated that anyone reaching across cultures to treat Westerners with Chinese medicine, or Chinese with Western psychology/biomedicine, can benefit greatly by learning more about the basic structure of conceptual metaphors in each system. It is shown that this exercise allows for greater sensitivity to patients, more flexible treatment strategy, and better communication.