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Metaphoric language and the articulation of emotions by people affected by motor neurone disease

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Locock, L., Mazanderani, F. and Powell, J. (John) (2012) Metaphoric language and the articulation of emotions by people affected by motor neurone disease. Chronic Illness, Volume 8 (Number 3). pp. 201-213. doi:10.1177/1742395312443390

Research output not available from this repository, contact author.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1742395312443390

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Abstract

Objective: To explore the use of metaphoric language to convey emotion in interviews with people affected by motor neurone disease, a progressive neurological condition that sits between chronic and terminal illness.
Methods: Secondary analysis of 46 interviews with people affected by motor neurone disease in the United Kingdom (35 individuals with the condition, 11 carers).
Results: Metaphor and figurative language was used to communicate the intensely emotional experiences of being diagnosed with and living with motor neurone disease. We focus on three pervasive themes that were threaded throughout the interviews: battling and fighting; the self under attack and journeying through a physical and emotional landscape.
Discussion:This secondary analysis of qualitative research interviews enriches our understanding of the articulation of emotion in motor neurone disease and adds to the literature on metaphor in chronic illness. Of particular interest is how the metaphors used contrasted with other conditions in the relative absence of metaphors of ‘fighting’ the disease. Furthermore, we analyse the ways in which participants used metaphors to give voice to emotions that are extremely difficult to articulate in ‘literal’ language, and how, in doing so, they blurred the distinction between ‘physical’ symptoms and ‘emotional’ states. Sensitivity to metaphors may help professionals communicate
with people affected by motor neurone disease.

Item Type: Journal Article
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Journal or Publication Title: Chronic Illness
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
ISSN: 1742-3953
Official Date: 8 September 2012
Dates:
DateEvent
8 September 2012Published
Volume: Volume 8
Number: Number 3
Page Range: pp. 201-213
DOI: 10.1177/1742395312443390
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder: Motor Neurone Disease Association, Service Delivery and Organisation programme of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
Grant number: 08/1610/123 (NIHR); RPPG-0608-10147 (NIHR)

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