Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias
Animal phobias are a relatively common type of phobia yet are often overlooked in qualitative research into mental health and illness. This study uses discourse analysis informed by cognitive linguistics to investigate people’s experiences of a specific kind of animal phobia, that of insects and oth...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-12-01
|
| Series: | Language and Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949903825000077 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849240548580261888 |
|---|---|
| author | Olivia Knapton |
| author_facet | Olivia Knapton |
| author_sort | Olivia Knapton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animal phobias are a relatively common type of phobia yet are often overlooked in qualitative research into mental health and illness. This study uses discourse analysis informed by cognitive linguistics to investigate people’s experiences of a specific kind of animal phobia, that of insects and other bugs. Through an analysis of proximisation and metaphor in interviews with 27 women with these phobias, this study shows how the feared bugs are conceptualised as an outsider threat that continually encroaches upon the deictic centre of the self or the home. The narrowing of the space between the bug and the deictic centre is at once literal (i.e. the bug moves towards the self) and metaphorical, that is, the bug is conceptualised as an agent with the wilful intent to perform deliberate acts of harm on the deictic centre. The findings are discussed in relation to several socially-situated issues, namely: the nature of disgust, women’s experiences of vulnerability and violence, and the meanings created for insects and bugs through anthropomorphic discursive representations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d0ac8bda42c949e99ed1c7f52e1623e1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2949-9038 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Language and Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-d0ac8bda42c949e99ed1c7f52e1623e12025-08-20T04:00:33ZengElsevierLanguage and Health2949-90382025-12-013210005210.1016/j.laheal.2025.100052Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobiasOlivia Knapton0King’s College London, School of Education, Communication and Society, Waterloo Campus, 150 Stamford Street, King’s College London, London SE1 9NH, United KingdomAnimal phobias are a relatively common type of phobia yet are often overlooked in qualitative research into mental health and illness. This study uses discourse analysis informed by cognitive linguistics to investigate people’s experiences of a specific kind of animal phobia, that of insects and other bugs. Through an analysis of proximisation and metaphor in interviews with 27 women with these phobias, this study shows how the feared bugs are conceptualised as an outsider threat that continually encroaches upon the deictic centre of the self or the home. The narrowing of the space between the bug and the deictic centre is at once literal (i.e. the bug moves towards the self) and metaphorical, that is, the bug is conceptualised as an agent with the wilful intent to perform deliberate acts of harm on the deictic centre. The findings are discussed in relation to several socially-situated issues, namely: the nature of disgust, women’s experiences of vulnerability and violence, and the meanings created for insects and bugs through anthropomorphic discursive representations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949903825000077PhobiasInsectsWomen’s healthCognitive linguisticsLexicogrammarProximisation |
| spellingShingle | Olivia Knapton Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias Language and Health Phobias Insects Women’s health Cognitive linguistics Lexicogrammar Proximisation |
| title | Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| title_full | Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| title_fullStr | Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| title_full_unstemmed | Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| title_short | Proximisation, metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| title_sort | proximisation metaphor and threat in experiences of insect and bug phobias |
| topic | Phobias Insects Women’s health Cognitive linguistics Lexicogrammar Proximisation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949903825000077 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT oliviaknapton proximisationmetaphorandthreatinexperiencesofinsectandbugphobias |