De-subjectivation of the feminine through psychiatric diagnosis: a reflection from The Loony-Bin Trip by Kate Millett

Abstract

Kate Millett (1934-2017) was a feminist activist from the United States, forcibly hospitalized twice because of a diagnosis of bipolarity. In this essay, her story in The Loony-Bin Trip (1990) is used to highlight the mechanisms of de-subjectivation that operate in the psychiatric diagnosis process. Among the mechanisms of de-subjectivation that are glimpsed, there is the partial and stigmatized reading of the diagnosed subject, the inability to execute the exercise of will with respect to issues that concern themselves and permanent self-doubt. In this way, a critique of the biomedical model and the pathologization of the feminine is made.