Cognitive linguistic approaches to discourse and menopause

The public discourse in the UK is experiencing a drive formenopause awareness to tackle the stigma surrounding thecondition. This is reflected in movements such as#menopauserevolution on social media, medical initiatives(Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists 2019) andthe recent push for a new bill concerning hormonalreplacement therapy (HRT) for the treatment ofmenopausal symptoms (Department of Health and SocialCare 2021; Muir 2021). The latter emphasise the complexityof mental and physical menopausal symptoms andtherefore highlight the positive impact that medicalintervention like HRT may have on patients' lives. Whilesuch intervention may improve their menopauseexperience from a medical perspective, the role oflanguage use in clinical menopause consultations and itsimpact on patients is under-researched.Research on the menopause stems mainly from medicine,sociology or psychology, whereas linguistic contributionsare comparatively scarce. Therefore, the present studyaims to start filling this gap and examine the role oflanguage used in primary care interactions between doctorsand menopausal patients. Rooted in cognitive linguisticapproaches to health communication and discourseanalysis, the study will identify and analyse prevalentlinguistic features of such consultations. It will empiricallytest the effects of these features on patients to gauge thesocial and emotional impact of medical intervention onlived menopause experiences.