‘I Feel I Am Not Human’: Investigating the Relationship between Discourse and Subjectivity in the Lives of Persons Experiencing Panic Attacks

Abstract

The study described in this paper investigated the ways in which panic and panic disorder are socially constructed, and how these constructions are involved in the formation of the subjectivities of those persons experiencing panic. In adopting a social constructionist perspective, it is proposed that all understandings of panic are informed by the social and historical contexts from which they emerge. The study investigates how linguistic practices, organised into different discourses, construct accounts of panic which go on to constitute particular forms of knowledge about panic. Discourse analysis was used to analyse media articles, radio interviews, and other examples of “panic talk”. The analysis yielded discourses that are involved in the construction and understanding of panic as a phenomenon. It was noted that panic was constructed in terms of abnormality, as a treatable condition, as an internal problem, and as an agent that has the potential to change people. The construction of panic according to these discourses had significant effects on the formation of subjectivity, in that it contributed to the formation of a “compromised” self that was “always-already” different, and abnormal. Lastly it was noted that the construction of subjectivity in these terms was related to discursive practices, involving the regulation of self.