Abstract :
Introduction: Depression is conceptualized by metaphors, according to this point, this study aimed to analyze some of the main cognitive metaphors for depression from the perspective of clinical psychologists. Materials and Methods: The method of this research was a qualitative-cognitive analysis study. In the first phase, the population of study was all the clinical psychologists who treat depressed patients in Tehran, Iran in 2021. Then, 30 clinical psychologists were selected by the purposive sampling method according to the theoretical saturation rule. Participants were asked to provide descriptions of depression that depressed patients gave them, which led to a rapid diagnosis of depression. Their conversation was recorded and collected by WhatsApp voice recording. In the second phase of this study, the population of 625 metaphorical phrases was obtained. According to the theoretical saturation rule, 200 phrases were selected purposively. Phrases and statements in which the depression and its symptoms were metaphorically expressed were manually separated and categorized. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that there were 7 important source domains for depression in Persian-speaking depressed patients. They are respectively included place, container, path, direction, object, human, taste, and color. Place, container, path, and direction are the most mapping for depression. Conclusion: According to the embodiment rule and like other abstract concepts, it seems that depression can be understood and conceptualized by cognitive metaphors.
