Jing Youping, Jiang Guiying
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Digit Health. 2024 Jan 31;10:20552076241228521. doi: 10.1177/20552076241228521. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
Online social support provides a way to positively influence depression sufferers. In the present study, we aim to analyze how social support in Chinese online depression communities is communicated through the lens of deliberate metaphor theory (DMT) to deepen the understanding of the under-researched complicated, emotionally laden, and culture-related concepts of this experience.
We collected data (n = 3546 comments) from the Warm Supporting section of the Depression Super Topic, a major Chinese online depression community on Weibo. The data were analyzed using a metaphorical analysis with the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit and a thematic analysis.
Our findings identify two themes: deliberate metaphors (DMs) of depression and DMs of social environment for depression sufferers. The former conceptualizes future expectations without depression (as ; ; ); disorder (as ; ); depression sufferers (as ; ); and present life with depression (as ; ; ). The latter conceptualizes social connection (as ; ); individuals in the social environment (as ; ); and prejudice (as ).
The findings suggest that DMs as important online social support resources, helping to express empathy and normalize depression with more common-sense, and non-judgmental concepts. Additionally, in DMs, Chinese netizens navigate the intricate intersection of medical and moral perspectives on depression and its recovery, leveraging both aspects to offer comprehensive social support. "Confucian-based" elements are embedded in culture-related social support expressions in DMs. In practice, our findings contribute to tailored and appropriate health interventions for depression.
在线社交支持为积极影响抑郁症患者提供了一种途径。在本研究中，我们旨在从刻意隐喻理论（DMT）的角度分析中国在线抑郁症社区中的社交支持是如何传达的，以加深对这种经历中研究不足的复杂、情感丰富且与文化相关概念的理解。
我们从微博上一个主要的中国在线抑郁症社区“抑郁症超话”的“温暖支持”板块收集了数据（n = 3546条评论）。使用隐喻识别程序弗里耶大学（Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit）进行隐喻分析和主题分析对数据进行了分析。
我们的研究结果确定了两个主题：抑郁症的刻意隐喻（DMs）和抑郁症患者的社会环境的DMs。前者将没有抑郁症的未来期望概念化为（如；；）；紊乱（如；）；抑郁症患者（如；）；以及有抑郁症的当下生活（如；；）。后者将社会联系概念化为（如；）；社会环境中的个体（如；）；以及偏见（如）。
研究结果表明，DMs作为重要的在线社交支持资源，有助于用更通俗易懂且不带评判的概念来表达同理心并使抑郁症正常化。此外，在DMs中，中国网民在抑郁症及其康复的医学和道德观点的复杂交叉点上进行探索，利用这两个方面提供全面的社会支持。“基于儒家”的元素嵌入在DMs中与文化相关的社会支持表达中。在实践中，我们的研究结果有助于为抑郁症制定量身定制且适当的健康干预措施。
