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Together, these perspectives inform our argument that metaphors\u2014often treated as incidental in healthcare practice\u2014are in fact fundamental to clinical interactions and are frequently employed without explicit awareness by practitioners. We also argue that helping clinicians become more aware of their implicit, often covert use of metaphors\u2014and offering guidance on supportive versus harmful metaphorical framing\u2014could be incorporated into medical education and trauma-informed care practices to better support patients who have experienced childhood sexual abuse. This essay also highlights the need for qualitative research that bridges medicine and linguistics to better understand how metaphors shape patient care experiences, particularly for this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013712","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]],"date-time":"2026-04-11T17:20:20Z","timestamp":1775928020000},"page":"medhum-2025-013712","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Using metaphors in the care of childhood sexual abuse: a review essay"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"given":"Aanya","family":"Ravichander","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carson","family":"Bohl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kaitlin","family":"Piper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marcella","family":"Donaruma-Kwoh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Texas Children\u2019s Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA"},{"name":"Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Higinbotham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emory University Oxford College, Oxford, Georgia, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026041110201294000_medhum-2025-013712v1.1","unstructured":"Broyard A . 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