Contemporary Psychiatric Practices: Normalisation and Discipline in Social Context

Abstract

This paper examines contemporary psychiatric practices as mechanisms of normalisation and discipline within social and cultural contexts. It explores how psychiatry not only diagnoses and treats mental illness but also establishes norms of mental health and acceptable behaviour. The increasing medicalisation of emotions, the dominance of psychopharmaceuticals, and the widespread adoption of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) demonstrate psychiatry’s role in shaping subjectivity and self-regulation. Drawing on the works of Michel Foucault, Nikolas Rose, and Peter Conrad, this paper critically assesses the ways in which psychiatric interventions function as tools of biopolitical governance. The discussion also highlights how neoliberal ideologies inculcate notions of individual responsibility for mental well-being, often at the expense of addressing structural and socio-economic determinants of distress. By analysing psychiatric discourse within the broader framework of power and control, this paper seeks to contribute to a critical understanding of mental health practices in contemporary society.