Abstract
ABSTRACTThis paper explores the potential role of metaphor as a signal and determinant of distress in first-person accounts of voice-hearing by people with schizophrenia diagnoses. The degree of distress experienced by voice-hearers depends, amongst other factors, on voice-hearers’ perceptions of the “power” of the voices, and on the extent to which the voices can control or be controlled by the person. Metaphors are well known to both reflect and reinforce particular ways of making sense of subjective and sensitive experiences, including in terms of attributions of agency, power and control.Metaphors were systematically identified and analysed in semi-structured interviews with 10 voice-hearers with diagnoses of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Divergent uses of metaphors framed the experience of voice-hearing in distinctive ways and were found to have different implications for perceptions of mutual power and control between voice-hearer and voices. Participants who used metaphors in which they are in disempowered positions tended to report higher level of distress, while participants who used metaphors in ways that constructed them as empowered tended to report lower levels of distress. It is argued that metaphor analysis can be usefully added to well-established approaches to both understanding and addressing distress in voice-hearers.
Highlights
Voice-hearing is often seen as a characteristic symptom of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders; approximately 70% of individuals with such diagnoses report hearing voices (McCarthy-Jones, 2012)
The semi-structured interviews involved the administering of the auditory hallucinations subscale of the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale (PSYRATS-AH; Haddock et al, 1999), sections of the Cognitive Assessment of Voices interview (CAV; Chadwick & Birchwood, 1994), as well as questions developed by the original study investigators to assess and quantify features of voices not covered by the instruments above
We focused on novel and conventional metaphors describing two aspects of voice-hearing: people’s relationships with voices and the phenomenology of the experience itself
Summary
Voice-hearing is often seen as a characteristic symptom of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders; approximately 70% of individuals with such diagnoses report hearing voices (McCarthy-Jones, 2012). These experiences cause hearers varying degrees of distress, with a sizable minority coping well with their voices (Jenner, Rutten, Beuckens, Boonstra, & Sytema, 2008), but many others finding these experiences disturbing and impairing. While assessments of voice-related distress and the determinants of distress are generally language-based (e.g. clinical interviews, such as the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales, Haddock, McCarron, Tarrier, & Faragher, 1999) linguistic analysis is not typically used to explore individuals’ descriptions of their experiences. We draw out two aspects of voice-hearing described metaphorically by our participants: their relationships with voices and the phenomenology of the experience itself
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
