‘War on cancer’ metaphors may do harm.

Whether we are seeing patients, suffering ourselves or accompanying our beloved family members recovering from diseases, we use militarized expressions. But psychology researchers recently found that such expressions causing more harm than doing good.

Here is a quote from the article on The Guardian:

” After reading accounts of cancer patients sprinkled with war metaphors, people rated cancer treatment as more difficult than those who read the same passages with journey metaphors, or no metaphors at all. In an article to appear in Health Communication, the researchers warn that highlighting the difficulty of cancer treatment could generate fear that made people put symptoms out of their mind, with potentially harmful consequences. “

Credit: The Guardian. Rui Vieira/PA