Cultural perspectives on positive responses to extreme adversity: A playing field for metaphors

Abstract

In Euro-American societies, “resilience” and “post-traumatic growth” are commonly used metaphorical terms for positive responses to extreme adversity. However, research on illness narratives has demonstrated that other cultures may have different metaphorical concepts that act as vehicles for shared beliefs about how to overcome extreme adversity or traumatic experiences. The purpose of this article is to identify metaphors used in various cultures to describe positive responses to extreme adversity and to discuss the cultural ontologies and other socio-cultural factors that shape them. Metaphors of this nature were extracted from psychological, anthropological and ethnographic studies and were organized into categories: battle, path, container, balance, weight, object and network metaphors. Findings support the notion that metaphorical expressions related to positive responses to extreme adversity vary widely across cultures. We argue that an understanding of cultural differences in metaphors for mental health-related concepts is crucial to assisting trauma survivors from different cultural backgrounds.

Culturally shared metaphors expand contemporary concepts of resilience and post-traumatic growth: contrasting an indigenous Brazilian community and a Swiss rural community

“…The method is an iterative, inductive–abductive technique for analysing textual data according to the principles of grounded theory 62 63. The array of possible metaphorical categories was influenced by other publications,1 64 but codes were generated inductively from data, making the process very open. We were rigorous in documenting every step of the analysis, establishing a comprehensible coding system and ensuring good inter-rater agreement in coding.…”

“…Looking at metaphorical expressions through a culturally sensitive lens may deliver insights into the complexity of processes of overcoming severe adversity. Terms such as ‘resilience’ and ‘PTG’ that are widely used in contemporary research in the context of responses to traumatic experiences may not be adequate to describe the full spectrum of adaptive responses to severe adversity 1 2 13. These contemporary conceptions may be expanded by specific metaphors shared by various cultural groups.…”

“…Cultural phenomena relating to psychological adaptation to trauma and other forms of severe adversity have recently gained importance in research and practice 1–4. A prominent concept in this field is resilience , a metaphorical concept derived from material science that describes an individual’s dynamic ability to withstand and bounce back from adversity 5 6.…”

“…Cultural research shows that variable narrative accounts on resilience and growth in the aftermath of severe adversity may emerge from different sociocultural contexts 13 19. Accordingly, there might be adaptive processes that do not fit into the Western-devised understanding of PTG and resilience 1. When working with a culture-sensitive lens, researchers have highlighted the need to recognise the culture-specific aetiology and phenomenology of mental health concerns 20–23.…”

“…In a recent review article, we identified a broad range of metaphorical concepts relating to positive responses to extreme adversity across various cultural contexts 1. We proposed a taxonomy of eight metaphorical categories and discussed how selected concepts are embedded in different social realities.…”