Metaphors and trauma: An image schematic analysis of symptom-specific metaphors

Metaphor analysis is known to be insightful for understanding how psychological trauma conceptualized. While previous research on metaphors mainly examined the subjective experience of general traumatic feelings, little has been said about post-traumatic symptoms clinical significance. This paper investigates symptom-specific produced by five victims, who were exposed 2019–2020 social unrest in Hong Kong and met diagnostic criteria Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) as assessed Stanford Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ). Sixty-four categorized according they described their image schematic groundings. Although participants had no professional knowledge symptoms, still feelings using experientially distinct constructs. The findings reveal possibility symptomatological manifestations captured metaphorical language distinguished at level, highlighting complementary value symptom-level cognitive semantic metaphors.