Analysis Of Foucault And Therapy: The Disciplining Of Grief

Most of what we believe is true today is constantly changing over time, as it is actually socially constructed. Our knowledge is based on what the dominant discourses claim is right and wrong or good or bad. Dominant discourses work in a more subtle and insidious way through the use of power, which defeats the purpose of domination and force. Catherine E. Foote and Arthur W. Frank claim within their article, Foucault and Therapy: The Disciplining of Grief, “Truth becomes a form of power precisely because it is accepted as self-evident” (160). Ideas such as psychological disorders and health come to us as common sense, giving them the power to construct our reality. Individuals use these dominant discourses to create a perception of themselves and those around them.

It has become a self-evident fact that if a person is experiencing excessive nervousness or worrying about a certain situation, they are facing an anxiety disorder that can be medicalized.

Foote and Frank state, “Just as the categories of truth and false divide the world into a hierarchy, so do the categories of normal and pathological” (160). Through these unreliable truths, one can be characterized as either normal or abnormal, based on a definition that is constantly reconstructed through time. Truths are created by ideologies based on what is considered healthy and normal to the human body. Any sign of psychological disobedience to the norms is considered abnormal and in need of medical or therapeutic attention. As a result, people do not want to be viewed in this way or participate in anything that may supposedly harm themselves and thus, they will begin to take on socially constructed remedies that may actually do more bad than good, in order to prevent marginalization. Individuals will do whatever they can to avoid deviance, “which refers to any behaviours or appearances that violate social norms, rules, or laws” (Brock,

15).
Power and knowledge operate collaboratively to govern society and create the normalization of socially constructed ideologies in a stealthy way. Institutions such as schools, hospitals, penitentiaries, etc. are also participating in dominant discourses representing a false misconception of truth, making it even more difficult to question these ideologies. For instance, if a parent is notified that their child may have an attention span disorder known as ADD (attention deficit disorder) by their school, the parent will be considered irresponsible if they do not take action and attempt to mould their child into the definition of “normal”. The school attains their knowledge based on this diagnosis from dominant discourses and later imposes it upon the child. Therefore, whether a person believes in these truths or not, they will walk around with labels that define them as different and in need of professional assistance. Ideas such as common sense and universal truths can be extremely dangerous because they perpetuate power and impose dominant discourses, while maintaining an innocent front.