Evidence of a nineteenth-century tradition of theoretical discussion about the relationship between chronic pain and pathological lesion, trauma, mood, memory and personality is brought together here for the first time. A wide range of medical texts is surveyed, including pathology, surgery, physiology, neurology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. We see the medical gaze first penetrate the tissues of the body then extend to examine the language and mental state of the pain patient.

By examining the breakdown of language in several neuropsychiatric disorders, neuroscientists have identified brain circuits that are involved with metaphor, poetry, music, and religious experiences.

While medical language is soaked in metaphor, medicine – that is, medical culture, clinical practice, and medical education – outwardly rejects metaphor for objective, literal scientific language. Arguing that this is a misstep, this book critically considers what embracing the use of metaphors, similes and aphorisms might mean for shaping medical culture, and especially the doctor-patient relationship, in a healthy way. It demonstrates how the landscape of medicine may be reshaped through metaphor shift and is an important work for all those interested in the use of language in medicine.

"There are books—few and far between—which carefully, delightfully, and genuinely turn your head inside out. This is one of them. It ranges over some central issues in Western philosophy and begins the long overdue job of giving us a radically new account of meaning, rationality, and objectivity."—Yaakov Garb, San Francisco Chronicle

This volume offers an empirical and diachronic investigation of the foundations and nature of metaphor in English, based on evidence from The Historical Thesaurus of English. It offers case studies of a number of semantic domains and provides a significant step forward in the data-driven understanding of metaphor.

Metaphor lies at the heart of the contemporary debate in aesthetics, semantics and the philosophy of science. It is generally recognised now that metaphor is not an obfuscation of the truth (as so many philosophers since Plato have argued); on the contrary, it is essential that we consider metaphor if we strive for an optimal understanding of how truth is gained both in science and in our everyday dealings with reality. Hence, metaphor is not of interest only for the literary theorists, but for all those who wish to understand science and how to grasp the structure of our social world. This volume presents eleven essays on the role of metaphor in philosophy, poetry, semiotics, art, literary criticism, economics, medical science and in political theory. Through the use of metaphor, the contributors provide a unique and exciting picture of these disciplines.

For years, the typical presentation of autism—the developmental delays, the social and linguistic deficits—has been well known. Despite great variation among children with this condition, certain symptoms are considered hallmarks of the disorder. Less understood is why these symptoms come together to construct autism. And as autism rates continue to rise, this information is ever more vital to accurate diagnosis and treatment. Autism and the Brain offers answers by showing a new neuropsychology of the autistic spectrum, reviewing general brain organization, and relating specific regions and structures to specific clinical symptoms. The author identifies deficiencies in areas of the left-hemisphere associated with the self and identity as central to autism. From this primary damage, the brain further reorganizes to compensate, explaining the diverse behaviors among low- and high-functioning individuals as well as autistic savants. The result is a unique three-dimensional view of brain structure, function, and pathology, with in-depth focus on how the autistic brain: Perceives the world. Understands and uses words. Perceives faces. Understands spatial relations and numbers. Understands feelings and registers emotions. Perceives the self as separate from others. Acts in the world. Challenging readers to re-think their assumptions, Autism and the Brain is breakthrough reading for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in fields as varied as child and adolescent psychiatry; clinical child, school, and developmental psychology; neuroscience/neurobiology; special education and educational psychology; social work; communication disorders; and public health and policy.

Pragmatics has grown considerably in its relatively short history, from its original disciplinary influences in philosophy and linguistics, into a multidisciplinary field that encompasses a range of theoretical and empirical concerns. The Routledge Pragmatics Encyclopedia captures the diversity of these intellectual interests in a comprehensive, single-volume edition. The Routledge Pragmatics Encyclopedia covers concepts and theories that have traditionally been associated with pragmatics, but also recent areas of development within the field, scholars who have had a significant influence on pragmatics, interdisciplinary exchanges between pragmatics and other areas of enquiry and all major research trends. Extensive cross-references between entries, along with suggestions for further reading at the end of entries, ensure that the interested reader can pursue additional study of chosen topics. With over 200 entries, written by leading academics from around the world, The Routledge Pragmatics Encyclopedia captures the rich complexity of pragmatics in an accessible manner. This reference will be relevant to students of pragmatics as well as to established scholars in the field.

This reference work is the first to examine pragmatic language disorders of clients in complex and underserved populations. In chapters written by a range of experts, the unique pragmatic language skills of clients are examined, allowing for a broad overview. The text gives focus to client groups ​with complex cognitive and psychiatric problems and children and adults that have been underserved by clinical language services ​because of maltreatment and social exclusion. Pragmatic disorders are examined in ​children ​with sensory loss, children who have been exposed to HIV and substance abuse, and adults with Huntington's disease and other complex neurodegenerative pathologies. This Handbook is an essential reference for researchers and clinicians in speech-language pathology, linguistics, psychology, and education.

Explores the physical, psychological and social factors that shape the way in which people engage with embodied metaphor, including, for example, the shape of one's body, age, gender, physical or linguistic impairments, ideology and religious beliefs. It will appeal to students and researchers in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology.