Conceptual blending theory and psychiatry

Conceptual blending has been proposed as a model for a variety of cognitive phenomena, and has the potential to contribute to our theoretical understanding of psychopathology. For example, from the perspective of conceptual blending theory, delusions are the product of conceptual integration processes similar to those present in many normal cognitive functions; however, there is aberrant selection of an input space, resulting in blends with relations that would normally be regarded as unfounded. Similarly, chronic interpersonal difficulties can be viewed as the repetitive application of a particular input-space frame to the construction of blends. Future research could examine whether this framework can be applied more generally to other psychiatric disorders, and whether the explicit reconstruction and examination of conceptual integration networks can be useful as a psychotherapeutic technique