When Metaphors Hurt or Heal: The Effects of Metaphor Use and Protagonist–Reader Similarity in Mental Illness Narratives on Stigma

Abstract

= 522), the study finds that metaphor effectiveness highly depends on protagonist-reader similarity. Compared with literal narratives, war and journey metaphors increased hope and subsequently MI social interaction and MI help-seeking intentions, but only when protagonist-reader similarity was high. When similarity was low, these metaphors reduced identification and discouraged both behavioral outcomes. In contrast, the conversation metaphor demonstrated desirable effects across similarity conditions: Under high similarity, it increased hope, which predicted stronger anti-stigma behavioral intentions. Under low similarity, it enhanced MI help-seeking through greater cognitive elaboration or directly increased MI social interaction intention. Together, these findings suggest that incorporating self-talk and inward conversation may be particularly valuable in metaphorical MI narratives, while also providing preliminary evidence that metaphorical MI narratives can produce stigma-reduction effects when aligned with audience characteristics.