Mad pride and metaphors for dissidence: a linguistic and symbolic analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a linguistic and interpretative analysis of the use of conceptual metaphors in the field of mental health, taking as a field of observation the use of Twitter in the first edition of Mad Pride Day in Spain, held on May 20, 2018. The objective is to give a first-person account of the attitudes expressed by activists. The results show a questioning of the coercive logics produced by psychiatric care, a problematization of the hegemonic model as a whole, a criticism of the oppression implied by stigma, communication problems with professionals in the field of mental health, as well as demands for greater dialogue with them. This analysis has allowed us to understand linguistic modes of resignifying the field of mental health, and also to account for the tensions between subjective perceptions of the people diagnosed and the productions of the hegemonic medical model.