Whispers from the pink ribbon: decoding metaphors in breast cancer patients’ self-narratives with sentiment analysis

Cancer patients, who suffer from physical and psychological stress, often employ metaphors to express their experiences and feelings. However, the role of metaphors in elucidating the psychological state of patients during their battle with breast cancer has not been firmly established. This study aims to explore how the conceptual metaphors are utilised by breast cancer patients to cope with the disease, using a corpus of 100 patients’ self-narratives selected from a public website. In the narrative texts, seven prevalent metaphor types are identified to describe the dynamic experiences of patients with breast cancer, ranked by frequency of use as follows: War, Journey, Plant, Burden, Human Being, Machine, and Animal. Meanwhile, the mechanisms underlying their cross-domain mappings were illuminated. Additional sentiment analysis reveals that significant and meaningful associations exist between the metaphors and the associated sentiments ( p < 0.001). We have also investigated the interaction between metaphors and sentiments in shaping doctor-patient cooperation, as well as the role of support networks, including friends, family, and society. The findings reveal a dynamic interplay between conscious resistance to metaphor and involuntary metaphorical framing, highlighting patients’ active role as reflexive mediators of metaphor in illness narratives. This study has the potential to positively impact clinical interventions in breast cancer treatment and to contribute to enhancing public awareness and empathy toward cancer patients.