Understanding the Utility of Metaphors
Metaphors are something humans use in every day life. Whether we realize it or not, these phrases and words that aren’t meant to be taken literally are almost essential to our function. Even though, they may seem indirect they sometimes help us communicate to one another more clearly, the literal meaning of a subject. Metaphors show just how much utility they have in the case of doctors and patients. Doctors understand in scientific terms about the cause of chronic diseases and disorders, but in explaining their understanding to certain patients, who may not understand everything that the doctor does, it becomes easier to explain through metaphors. Another way metaphors can present themselves useful for others, is when a person is trying to explain how they feel because of their illness or disorder. It helps other humans to be capable of showing empathy for one another when they have not experienced what the affected person is going through. In the case of doctors helping their patients understand, an author Dhruv Khullar in an article for The Atlantic called “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors”, goes into great detail on the matter, specifically with the metaphor of calling an experience with a disease a battle. As for how people use metaphors the movie “The Babadook” is a creative way to express depression and mental illness turning it into a movie based around a monster. These two metaphors don’t have much in common, but they as well as other metaphors helps shape human understanding of other humans using non-literal comparative context.
In “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors” Khullar explains that many doctors use metaphors to communicate with their patients and she reflects on the studies of this practice. He mainly focuses on the metaphor of comparing dealing with an illness to a battle. Even though this description of an illness may come to harm and pressure people, most doctors use it. Most patients who have these doctors agree that the doctor is able to make them understand what their going through, and that physicians who do use the non-literal terms are better in ensuring their patients fully understand what their going through. This proves that metaphors work in helping humans understand in one another. Whether we “monitor for insidious disease,” “destroy rogue cells,” or “search for silver bullets,” terms like these let a person know truly what exactly is going on in their body.
As for the people with illnesses that have no tangible evidence, they use metaphors as a way to convey what their going through to others in order to seek help, or to just make people understand. Jennifer Kents’ critically acclaimed psychological horror film “The Babadook” is a movie about the main character Amelia and her son Samuel dealing with the constant torment of the Babadook. The Babadook is initially found in a children’s book that Amelia finds herself reading to Samuel one night called “Mister Babadook”. Some phrases in the story are, “the more you deny, the stronger I get,” and, “you start to change when I get in.” The lines seem to correlate with depression. For example, according to an article for the Odyssey by Vaish Rajakumar titled “A Metaphor for Depression”, resisting treatment may increase the severity of symptoms felt. In addition to behavioral changes, due to the chemical imbalance when experiencing depression. These chilling words echo, and the metaphor and symbolism grow tremendously, as the Babadook manifests itself.
As the movie continues and the Babadook manifests itself more and more it begins to possess Amelia and changes her behavior. It follows her wherever she goes and is constantly lingering around her. These actions of the Babadook are consistent with how depression treats its victims. The movie even allows the Babadook to be suppressed and controlled if Amelia locks her demon in the basement and feeds it worms. The worms can be seen as a symbol for antidepressants, singing to audiences that she is starting to take care of her mental health after becoming aware of it. Overall, “The Babadook” is a film that not only scares the viewer, but if seen correctly can show a viewer what it is like for victims of depression. If a person were to compare how their depression treats them, to how the Babadook treated Amelia, it’d be a useful way to express to others how they are feeling and make it possible for that person to receive empathy from others.
The metaphors of comparing dealing with diseases as a battle and comparing “The Babadook” to depression contrast in that they vary in complexity. Doctors often use battle terminology to simplify what an illness is and what it’s doing to their patient’s body. On the contrary, “The Babadook” uses in depth experience to enhance a non-depressed person’s understanding of depression by making it more complex.
Where these two metaphors compare is in that these metaphors are meant to simply enhance the meaning to others of something. Whether a patient needs to understand what a virus is doing to their bodies on a molecular level, or a victim of depression simply wants to show what their going through whilst dealing with depression. These metaphors can truly shape in image in a person’s mind and help them to perceive others’ realities better.
Overall metaphors can be presented in many different ways for a multitude of reasons. Its important that people are able to recognize them and use them to their advantage. They help people see what words can’t describe and make people understand things in a simpler fashion, whether it’s using battle terminology to help a patient or correlating mental illness to an invasive monster, metaphors have proven to be an extremely useful tool and humans should use them in their everyday interactions to help one another.
Works Cited
Khullar, Dhruv. “The Trouble With Medicine’s Metaphors.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 Aug. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/the-trouble-with-medicines-metaphors/374982/.
Rajakumar, Vaish. “A Metaphor For Depression.” The Odyssey Online, Odyssey, 28 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/metaphor-for-depression.
