Objective: To determine whether schizophrenia is a commonly used illness as metaphor, to compare the use of schizophrenia and cancer as illnesses as metaphor, and to determine if there is a difference in such usage between the UK and USA. Design: An examination of articles published in the British press. Setting: 600 articles from six British newspapers: the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Mirror, the Sun and the Daily Mail. Main outcome measures: Use of schizophrenia and cancer as metaphors. Results: Schizophrenia was more likely to be metaphorized than cancer (P<_0.001 xmlns:conclusions="urn:x-prefix:conclusions" in="in" the="the" uk="uk" press="press" but="but" was="was" less="less" likely="likely" to="to" be="be" used="used" as="as" metaphor="metaphor" than="than" us="us" p0.001.="p0.001." _11="_11" of="of" articles="articles" containing="containing" term="term" schizophrenia="schizophrenia" word="word" a="a" metaphor.="metaphor." conclusions:_="conclusions:_" clinicians="clinicians" need="need" aware="aware" that="that" patients="patients" carers="carers" and="and" public="public" might="might" have="have" different="different" understanding="understanding" we="we" use="use" diagnosis.="diagnosis." llba="llba" c="c" csa="csa" _2007.="_2007." all="all" rights="rights" reserved.="reserved.">