Interesting programme on’t radio coming home, called Metaphor for healing.
Most people will use metaphors in their daily language, but many patients are unfortunately on the receiving end of highly negative diagnoses: crumbling spine, toxic radiation and so on. The power of such language on the brain means that patients can actually start feeling worse, but often doctirs are unaware of this effect because medicine tends to focus on hard science.
Lesson for the day and not just the medical profession: don’t put words in people’s mouths, let them explain in their own language.
