Abstract

This article reports on the ways in which psychiatric practice and power were constituted in a Danish asylum at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The point of departure will be a complaint by a former patient questioning the practice at the asylum in 1829. In an analysis of this narrative the study draws upon Foucauldian concepts like disciplinary power, confession, pastoral power and subjectivation. I will argue that the critique of the patient provides us with an example of the way that disciplinary power works in the case of an informal indictment of the methods and practice at an asylum. A key issue is whether the critique is not itself a part of the self-legitimation of disciplinary power.

Highlights

  • This article considers the ways in which psychiatric practice and power were constituted in a Danish asylum, Saint Hans Hospital, at the beginning of the nineteenth century

  • The Problem and the Approach I will argue that Frydendahl‘s critique provides us with an example of the way that disciplinary power works in the case of an informal indictment of the methods and practice at an asylum

  • I will proceed in three stages: 1) I analyze Frydendahl‘s critique—and the case history from which it proceeds—applying some of Foucault‘s primary concepts: disciplinary power, confession, pastoral power, and subjectivation; 2) I analyze Frydendahl‘s role as a subject in the transition from one psychiatric discourse to another; 3) I attempt to determine whether his complaint itself constitutes a bona fide critique of disciplinary power as such, or if the critique is not itself a part of the self-legitimation of disciplinary power

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Summary

Introduction

This article considers the ways in which psychiatric practice and power (and the role of the individual therein) were constituted in a Danish asylum, Saint Hans Hospital, at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

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Conclusion
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