Degree
BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)
Faculty / School
School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)
Department
Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts
Date of Award
Spring 2026
Date of Submission
2026-07-10
Advisor
Dr. Adam Abdullah, Assistant professor, Department of Social Sciences
Committee
Dr. Ayesha Zia, Assistant professor, Department of Social Sciences
Project Type
SSLA Culminating Experience
Access Type
Restricted Access
Keywords
Bereavement exclusion; Foucauldian Discourse Analysis; DSM; Willig’s Six- Step Framework; Grief
Abstract
The ‘bereavement exclusion’ elimination in the diagnosis of the Major Depressive Disorder in the DSM-V has been one of the most contested revisions in the history of the manual. The removal of the criterion has caused a significant shift in how grief, depression, and bereavement are conceptualized in psychiatric discourse, raising concerns about the pathologization of normal human states. The current study employs Willig’s (2008) six-step method to the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) to analyze how the competing positions around the bereavement exclusion are discursively constructed and justified across three data sources: the different versions of the DSM (III-V), Pakistani expert interviews (including mental health professionals), and official APA documents. The findings and analysis of this study included three themes which elucidated grief as a conditional construction, the APA and DSM as self-described authorities within the field of psychology through utilizing override mechanisms and biological/symptomatic language, and how Pakistani mental health clinicians are afforded power within a pre-set criterion, sidelining culture and autonomy. Willig’s Six Steps are further applied to these findings. The study contributes to critical debates on psychiatric classification, diagnostic power, and the boundaries between normal suffering and mental disorder.
Pages
98
Recommended Citation
Anam, H. (2026). GRIEF ON TRIAL: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) of the Bereavement Exclusion’s Removal in DSM-5 (Unpublished undergraduate project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/sslace/415
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