La concettualizzazione della depressione nel discorso giornalistico italiano

Abstract

The aim of this article is to illustrate the most frequent conceptualisations of de-pression in the contemporary Italian media discourse. The analyses presented in the paper are mainly based on the cognitive theory of metaphor by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson and form a part of a wider research topic regarding the differences in conceptualisation of depression depending on such factors as the language, the type of the discourse and the personal experience of the author concerning the state of depression. The study revealed that depression is represented the most frequently in the analysed corpus through the frame of disease, and by the metaphors DEPRESSIONISANENEMY and DEPRESSIONISALOCATION, often situated down and taking the form of a container. Less numerous and regular were other kinds of its personifi cationsand representations of depression as an object or danger.