Is laughter the greatest medicine for cancer patients?

Drawings taken from Lancaster University's 'Metaphor Menu', a collection of examples of different ways in which people described their experiences with cancer. Analysis led by Lancaster University researchers suggests that spontaneous humour is used and appreciated by people with cancer and can be a helpful way of dealing with distressing, taboo or embarrassing circumstances. People can use humorous metaphors (figures of speech) to empower themselves by undermining the illness, mocking it and distancing themselves from it. In 'Metaphor, Cancer and the End of Life', Elena Semino, Andrew Hardie, Sheila Payne and Paul Rayson, from Lancaster University, and ZsófiaDemjén from University College London, present the methodology, findings and implications of a large-scale corpus-based study of the metaphors used to talk about cancer and the end of life (including care at the end of life) in the UK. "We studied an online forum for people with cancer and found that some contributors regularly joke about what is happening to them," says Professor Elena Semino, who led the research team. "For example, the cancer is referred to as 'Mr C', a colostomy bag as 'Baggy' and an oncologist as 'the Wizard of Onc'". Co-author Dr ZsófiaDemjén adds: "Making fun of cancer helps some people on the online forum cope with serious, threatening and unpredictable circumstances, and to bond with one another." The whole study presents what is the largest-scale study to date of metaphor in the experience of cancer and (care at) the end of life.