Can Foucault’s Panopticism Drive Dissociative Personality Disorder? An Implied Possibility

Abstract

Michel Foucault’s exploration of panopticism in Discipline and Punish, drawing from Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon concept, reveals a complex array of implications. Unlike Bentham’s centralized surveillance paradigm, Foucault proposes a decentralized approach wherein individuals internalize surveillance, becoming subjects under constant panoptical observation. This decentralization arises from the impracticality of centrally monitoring the expansive human populace. Panoptical governance hinges on fostering perpetual awareness of scrutiny, promoting adherence to societal norms through self-imposed surveillance frameworks. However, repercussions of societal repression within a panoptical framework, where conformity may suppress individual desires, pose individual psychological challenges. Sigmund Freud’s theory of repression, contextualized within panopticism, highlights potential outcomes like frustration and discontent. This notion corroborated by a psychoanalytical reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, illustrates how repression engenders cognitive dissonance and lead to emergence of alter-egos as coping mechanisms. Leon Festinger’s concept of cognitive dissonance further elucidates the psychological tension stemming from conflicting beliefs or actions. This perspective suggests that unaddressed cognitive dissonance, under panoptic glare, may culminate in Dissociative Personality Disorder (DPD), where alter-egos are created to mitigate perceived transgressive desires, serving as coping mechanisms against the guilt induced by panoptical surveillance at the individual level.