How Metaphors May Enhance Health Communication: The Case of Dry Eye Syndrome

Previous studies have investigated the effects of metaphors in health communication. Yet, relatively little attention has been given to variations in metaphor usage when people talk about a particular disease, and what functions these metaphors may have in different communication contexts. The aim of this paper is to study the effects of metaphors in the communication of Dry Eye Syndrome (DES), which has developed into a prevalent eye disease. A systematic metaphor analysis was applied to 15 extensive blog entries and 308 survey responses which reflect people's first-hand experiences on having dry eyes. The results showed that communication about DES is highly metaphorical and that metaphors vary in terms of underlying concepts (i.e., journey, war) and in their level of creativity in different communication contexts. When patients talk about treatments and experiences with doctors and about quality of life, conventional metaphors are overrepresented and patients often use metaphors related to a journey. When they talk about symptoms, creative metaphors are overrepresented and patients often refer to eyes/vision as objects. Paying attention to these variations provides deeper insights into how people experience and deal with DES. In a follow-up study, we asked DES patients (n = 66) which metaphors they consider particularly appropriate to describe their experience with DES. We found that personification and war-related metaphors got the highest appropriateness-ratings. Concluding, we discuss how the attention to metaphors might contribute to a more effective communication of DES in different communication contexts.