Network Seminar: "Metaphorical Framings of Emotions in Mental Health", January 14th, Birmingham and Online

November 21, 2025

Network Seminar: "Metaphorical Framings of Emotions in Mental Health", January 14th, Birmingham and Online

Emotions are important drivers of human behaviour. They help shape our goals and desires and endow our lives with meaning. Insights into emotional phenomena are central to our understanding of human subjectivity, suffering and flourishing. Phenomenological enquiries into emotions are valuable as they provide insight into our understanding of identity and selfhood (i.e. the network of interconnected values, projects and concerns that define who we are). They also reveal how identity and selfhood relate to our subjective understanding of the world we live in. Yet, certain dimensions of emotional experience remain underexplored in phenomenological research. These include the foundational role that metaphor and metonymy play in shaping the relationship between emotions and bodily experiences and, by extension, in shaping psychological (or psychopathological) phenomena such as delusions, hallucinations and other manifestations of mental health conditions.

Bringing together scholars from across philosophy, psychology, psychiatry and linguistics, the workshop will open up a new inter-disciplinary space for the theoretical reflection and methodological development.

Confirmed speakers include Prof. Ray Gibbs (USA and Hungary), Prof. Francesca Ervas (Cagliari), Dr Kathleen Murphy-Hollies (Birmingham), and Dr Francesca Brencio (Birmingham). Please see below for the full schedule.

Organised by Prof. Jeannette Littlemore and Dr Rosa Ritunnano.

In-person places are limited so please do sign-up using this form. The workshop will be taking place in the Inspire Room at The Studio in central Birmingham. Online attendance will also be facilitated.

Schedule

All times are in GMT

9.30 Tea & Coffee and Registration

9.45 Introduction to the workshop (Dr Rosa Ritunnano & Prof. Jeannette Littlemore)

10.00 Metaphorical embodiment of emotions in psychosis, Dr Rosa Ritunnano (Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham) & Prof. Jeannette Littlemore (Dept. of Linguistics & Communication, University of Birmingham)

10.45 Metaphor and Epistemic Injustice in Mental Illness: An Experimental Approach, Prof. Francesca Ervas (Department of Education, Psychology, Philosophy Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy)

11.30 Tea & Coffee

12.00 Giving Uptake to the Metaphorical Meanings of Delusions, Dr Kathleen Murphy-Hollies (Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham)

12.45 Lunch

13.45 “What is it that I am missing?” A Phenomenological Exploration of Metaphors in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Dr Francesca Brencio (Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham)

14.30 Tea & Coffee

15.00 Metaphor and Metonymy in Talk about Mental Health, Prof. Ray Gibbs (Independent Scholar, USA and Hungary)

15.50 Round Table Discussion

16.30 Workshop ends