Preface -- List of the troubled selves -- Part 1 Defining the boundaries for problem discourse -- Chapter 1 Situating problem discourse in a postmodern landscape -- 1. The troubled self visits actual and virtual sites -- 2. Institutional discourse: Between the panopticon and the workshop room -- Chapter 2 Theoretical and methodological frameworks -- 1. Theoretical framework -- 1.1. Functional approaches to discourse -- 1.2. Global coherence -- 1.3. Narrative evaluation -- 1.4. Worlds of discourse -- 1.5. Discourse-oriented perspective on figurative language -- 2. Methodological framework -- 2.1. Corpora -- 2.2. Data collection and analysis -- 3. Overview of the book -- Part 2 Figurative bridges in radio, hotline and cyber discourse -- Chapter 3 Organizing tropes -- 1. The troubled caller makes a phone call -- 1.1. Effective interactions -- 1.2. Ineffective interactions -- 2. Summary -- Chapter 4 Open your call with a title -- 1. Topic-focused program: "I advise you to hate your mother" -- 2. General program: "I don't know how to get close to my middle son" -- 3. Summary -- Chapter 5 Figurative conspiracies -- 1. Hotline sufferers -- 1.1. "Am I their floor rag?" -- 1.2. "The lion and the snake" -- 1.3. "My life is a story in a book" -- 2. Summary -- Chapter 6 Cyber multilogues -- 1. Cyberspace sufferers -- 1.1. "Why not be ahead of my time?" -- 1.2. "I was the best source of light on the market" -- 2. Summary -- Part 3 The discursive construction of control -- Chapter 7 Negotiating the right to advertise the self -- 1. The healer: "I produce a new mechanism that controls the addictive behavior" -- 2. The lesbian: "That person didn't have horns and didn't have a beard" -- 3. Summary -- Chapter 8 The construction of addictive disorders in discourse -- 1. Addictive behaviors and codependency -- 2. Addicted and codependent selves.

2.1. The love addict: "Everything simply started snowballing" -- 2.2. The obese eater: "I'm a blender" -- 2.3. The sex addict: "But sex was always something strong inside" -- 2.4. The abstinent gambler: "I'm not there today" -- 2.5. An ex-alcoholic's wife: "He becomes a nervous wreck that drags you along" -- 2.6. The anorexic's mother: "We live in daily hell" -- 3. Summary -- Part 4 Redefining the boundaries of problem discourse -- Chapter 9 Theoretical conclusions and action-oriented implications -- 1. Theoretical conclusions: Global figurative coherence in a multilogue -- 1.1. Professional and lay voices reshape the boundaries of problem discourse -- 1.2. Figurative trans-world journeys -- 2. Action-oriented implications -- Epilogue -- Notes -- References -- Author index -- Subject index.