The production of the psychiatric subject: power, knowledge and Michel Foucault
Abstract
The issue of power has become increasingly important within psychiatry, psychotherapy and mental health nursing generally. This paper will suggest that the work of Michel Foucault, the French philosopher and historian, has much to contribute to the discussion about the nature, existence and exercise of power within contemporary mental health care. As well as examining his original and challenging account of power, Foucault's emphasis on the intimate relationship between power and knowledge will be explored within the context of psychiatry and mental health nursing. This is to say that the paper will investigate Foucault's account of how power and knowledge are central to the process by which human beings are 'made subjects' and therefore how 'psychiatric identities' are produced. In doing so, it will be suggested that Foucault's work can not only make a valuable contribution to contemporary discussions about power and knowledge, but can also provide a significant critique and reconceptualization of the theoretical foundations and associated diagnostic and therapeutic practices of psychiatry and mental health nursing.
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The authors engaged in discussions about persons' psychiatric diagnosis, which served to produce a person's subjective identity as a psychiatric subject, influencing how persons understand themselves and are perceived by others.
“The authors engaged in discussions about the persons' psychiatric diagnosis, which served to produce a person's 'subjective identity' as a 'psychiatric subject', which influence how the persons understand themselves and how they are perceived by others (Roberts, 2005).”
From Psychosis or spiritual emergency? A Foucauldian discourse analysis of case reports of extreme mental states in the context of meditation (2019) · cites this paper as Roberts, 2005
Critical psychiatry movements challenge the legitimacy of exclusive authority.
“At the core of critical psychiatry, the legitimacy of exclusive authority has been challenged (Bracken and Thomas, 2010;Roberts, 2005;Schramme, 2012).”
From Why adults with psychiatric conditions request euthanasia: A qualitative interview study of life experiences, motives and preventive factors (2021) · cites this paper as Roberts, 2005
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“The person’s subject position was constructed as that of a ‘‘psychiatric subject,’’ which may influence how persons understand themselves and how they are perceived by others (Roberts, 2005).”
Background
- Authors
- Roberts, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Staffordshire (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Roberts, Marc
- ORCID
- Roberts, Marc
- Venue
- Nursing Philosophy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 33-42
- ISSN
- 1466-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 1466-769X
- OpenAlex
- W2056709303
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 9.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nursing Philosophy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Foucault, Power, and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Philosophy and Social Theory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
- Keywords
- Michel Foucault, power, knowledge, subjectivation, psychiatric nursing, power and knowledge, critique of psychiatry, diagnostic practices, therapeutic practice
- MeSH terms
- Attitude of Health Personnel, Attitude to Health, Mental Disorders, Existentialism, Humans, Nurse-Patient Relations, Philosophy, Nursing, Power, Psychological, Psychiatric Nursing, Knowledge, History, 20th Century
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