Toward the emancipation of “medically unexplained” and energy-limiting conditions: Contesting and reimagining psy through the lens of feminist disability studies

Indictment of hegemonic psy construction of the “ideal” subject, and its marginalisation of the Other, is common to both feminism and (critical, feminist) disability studies. However, feminist literature largely lacks both an appreciation of the gendered, intersectional nature of disability as constituted and propagated by psy, and an exploration of how integrating disability as a category of analysis can strengthen critical feminist endeavours to transform psy. This article seeks to address this gap, espousing a feminist disability studies lens and taking as its subject energy-limiting chronic illnesses that are socially and clinically othered, notably via a strategic positioning of these illnesses as medically unexplained and recoverable through compliance with psy knowledge regimes. After discussing how power-laden gendered, dis/abled, and more fully intersectional constructions of the idealised subject, bolstered by psy–corporate–state agendas relating to welfare reform, have oppressively shaped dominant representations and practices in this arena, I consider how psy (chiefly, psychotherapy) might benefit from integrating thinking from within feminist disability studies. I conclude that feminist disability studies can help transform psy in an emancipatory direction through reimagining disability in a socioculturally and biopolitically cognisant, embodied, and maximally inclusive manner. The case of “medically unexplained” and energy-limiting chronic illness exemplifies this assertion.