Using metaphors in the care of childhood sexual abuse
A review essay
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19477245 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aanya Ravichander (Emory University, corresponding author), Carson Bohl (Emory University), Kaitlin N Piper (0000-0001-9422-1565, Emory University), Kaitlin Piper (Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), Marcella Donaruma-Kwoh (Baylor College of Medicine), Sarah Higinbotham (University of Oxford) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | medhum-2025-013712 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-215X • E-ISSN: 1473-4265 |
| Publisher | BMJ (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1136/medhum-2025-013712 |
| PMID | 41965317 |
| OpenAlex | W7153593658 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 48 |
Careful and intentional language use can improve healthcare outcomes for vulnerable populations. This essay critically analyses how metaphors shape clinical communication with childhood survivors of sexual abuse. Drawing on prior literature and insights from conversations with child abuse paediatricians and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-certified psychologists, this essay discusses several key metaphors clinicians use when communicating with childhood survivors. Together, these perspectives inform our argument that metaphors—often treated as incidental in healthcare practice—are in fact fundamental to clinical interactions and are frequently employed without explicit awareness by practitioners. We also argue that helping clinicians become more aware of their implicit, often covert use of metaphors—and offering guidance on supportive versus harmful metaphorical framing—could be incorporated into medical education and trauma-informed care practices to better support patients who have experienced childhood sexual abuse. This essay also highlights the need for qualitative research that bridges medicine and linguistics to better understand how metaphors shape patient care experiences, particularly for this population
Action (physics) · Argument (complex analysis) · Cognition · Covert · Health care · Metaphor · Perspective (graphical) · Qualitative research · Sexual abuse · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Empathy and Medical Education · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
Long-term physical and mental health consequences of childhood physical abuse
Why children tell
Trauma Informed Care in Medicine
Natural Language Metaphors Covertly Influence Reasoning
Long-term Physical Health Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Long-term outcomes of childhood sexual abuse
Metaphors We Think With
The Metaphorical Structure of the Human Conceptual System
Narrative Medicine
Emotional Implications of Metaphor
Unclaimed Experience
Metaphor and the notion of control in trauma talk
Making sense of the meaning literature
Multi-disciplinary teams responding to child abuse
The experience of non-offending caregivers following the disclosure of child sexual abuse
Language and Trauma
A metaphor-enriched social cognition
Metaphor and the politics and poetics of youth distress in an evidence-based psychotherapy
The impact and long-term effects of childhood trauma
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |