Medicalisation or customisation? Sleep, enterprise and enhancement in the 24/7 society

Williams, Simon; Coveney, Catherine; Gabe, Jonathan

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.07.017

Cited by 45 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…, Williams , , Williams et al . , Williams and Wolf‐Meyer ), wider sociological debates on the medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation of life (Abraham , Bell and Figert , Gabe et al . , Williams et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescriptions and proscriptions: moralising sleep medicines

Gabe

Coveney

Williams

2015

Sociology Health & Illness

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The pharmaceuticalisation of sleep is a contentious issue. Sleep medicines get a ‘bad press’ due to their potential for dependence and other side effects, including studies reporting increased mortality risks for long‐term users. Yet relatively little qualitative social science research has been conducted into how people understand and negotiate their use/non‐use of sleep medicines in the context of their everyday lives. This paper draws on focus group data collected in the UK to elicit collective views on and experiences of prescription hypnotics across different social contexts. Respondents, we show, drew on a range of moral repertoires which allowed them to present themselves and their relationships with hypnotics in different ways. Six distinct repertoires about hypnotic use are identified in this regard: the ‘deserving’ patient, the ‘responsible’ user, the ‘compliant’ patient, the ‘addict’, the ‘sinful’ user and the ‘noble’ non user. These users and non‐users are constructed drawing on cross‐cutting themes of addiction and control, ambivalence and reflexivity. Such issues are in turn discussed in relation to recent sociological debates on the pharmaceuticalisation/de‐pharmaceuticalisation of everyday life and the consumption of medicines in the UK today.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescriptions and proscriptions: moralising sleep medicines

Gabe

Coveney

Williams

2015

Sociology Health & Illness

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“…The medicalisation of sleep is ‘a complex, contested, partial process in which some aspects of sleep are becoming more medicalised than others’ (Williams et al . : 41). The idea that some conditions are perhaps more easily medicalised than others is not new (see Conrad and Schneider ), but has only recently been examined within the sociology of sleep.…”

Section: Medicalisationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…, Venn and Arber , Williams et al . ). Some sociological studies have explored the patient perspective on sleep problems and solutions (Coveney , Gabe and Thorogood , Gabe et al .…”

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confidence: 97%

‘Sometimes, it's easier to write the prescription’: physician and patient accounts of the reluctant medicalisation of sleeplessness

Moloney

2016

Sociology Health & Illness

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The medicalisation of sleep is a rich and growing area of sociological interest. Previous research suggests that medicalisation is occurring within the context of physician office visits, but the inner workings remain unclear. This study is the first to provide perspectives on the office visit interaction from both sleepless patients (n = 27) and the physicians (n = 8) who treat them. Analyses of semi-structured qualitative interviews reveal that sleep-related conversations are typically patient-initiated in routine office visits. Physicians and patients conceptualised insomnia as a symptom of another issue (depression), an everyday problem of living (stress) or the result of a natural life process (aging). Lack of sleep was not necessarily linked to daytime impairment. Even though sleep aids were routinely requested and prescribed, patients and physicians consistently expressed attitudes of reluctance toward the use of sedative hypnotics. I call this a case of 'reluctant medicalisation' and highlight the liminal space between pathology and normalcy inhabited by patients and physicians. I also build on recent work acknowledging the dynamics between macro and micro levels of medicalisation and illustrate the influence of multilevel 'engines' (consumerism, biotechnology, managed care and physicians) in patients' and physicians' accounts. A virtual abstract of this paper can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/7uLHOJPHF0I.

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“…Współczesny świat, funkcjonujący 24 godziny na dobę, bywa nazywany "społeczeństwem 24/7" [1]. Od czasu wynalezienia przez Thomasa Edisona żarówki w 1879 roku systematycznie rośnie grupa osób zatrudnionych w warunkach pracy zmianowej (shift workers).…”

Section: Wstępunclassified