In the text “the trouble with medicines metaphors,” Dhruv Khullar explains the conflict of whether or not medical professionals should use military metaphors such as “fight” or “battle” to describe an illness. Some patient are effected by these military metaphors in a positive light and see this metaphor to aid in their motivation to become healthy. Other patients see these metaphors in a negative light and if they are put on a new medication, new treatment plan or into a long term care situation it is seen as defeat. There were multiple studies done by researchers to support these claims but ultimately they determined that it truly depends on the personality of the patient, their belief system and values. Another point that the author Dhruv Khullar makes is that metaphors creates a common language between doctors and patients. It allows doctors to be able to explain illness or injury to their patients in a way that they will understand and make the medical terminology seem less intense. The author mentions that it was proven in a study that patients believe medical professionals who use metaphors are considered to be better communicators and make sure that their patients truly understand their illness.

Personally, after reading this text, I truly believe that metaphors being helpful in the healthcare setting depends on the patient. If the patient is motivated to become healthy, and want to “fight” their illness, then they will use the metaphor as a way to be more motivated. However, if the patient is not wanting to/have no energy to “fight,” they feel defeated, then they will not see it as motivation, they will only see it in the negative light. I feel that I would see this metaphor as a motivator, because I have always been a positive person and if I were to ever get an illness, I would keep my positivity no matter what happened, or what complication was thrown at me, I would keep “fighting.” The other point that the author made about healthcare professionals using metaphors to explain illness, I completely agree with. Metaphors are magical because they allow patients to understand the medical terminology that is very difficult to understand especially in difficult times of finding out that you have an illness.

One quote that stood out to me in the first text ” Metaphorically speaking” by James Greary is “metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, how we communicate, learn, discover and invent”  (Greary 1). This quote stood out to me because it shows how effective metaphors can be in the English language and the different situations that metaphors can be used in. Next, in the text “See through words” by Michael Erard, the quote that stood out to me was “[metaphors are] meant to make someone realize that they’ve only been looking at one side of a thing” (Erard 1). This quote stood out to me because it shows that metaphors are meant to help someone understand something more complex, or to see something in a new light. So, this quote shows the major importance and function of a metaphor. Lastly, in the text “The trouble with medicines metaphors” by Dhruv Khullar, the quote that stood out to me was “metaphors are a fundamental mechanism through which our minds conceptualize the world around us, especially in the face of complexity” (Khullar 2) . This quote stood out to me because it, once again, supports the idea that metaphors are used to help understand something more complex and help to conceptualize a difficult subject.