The muddle of medicalization: pathologizing or medicalizing?

Abstract

Medicalization appears to be an issue that is both ubiquitous and unquestionably problematic as it seems to signal at once a social and existential threat. This perception of medicalization, however, is nothing new. Since the first main writings in the 1960s and 1970s, it has consistently been used to describe inappropriate or abusive instances of medical authority. Yet, while this standard approach claims that medicalization is a growing problem, it assumes that there is simply one "medical model" and that the expanding realm of "the medical" can be more or less clearly delineated. Moreover, while intended to establish the reality of this growing threat, this research often requires making arbitrary or unjustified distinctions between different practices. To better clarify the concept of medicalization, I will focus more on capturing the variety of medical practices than on the sociological aspects of medical discourse. In doing so, I will explore the distinction between medicalization and pathologization, a distinction that is often overlooked and that brings with it many conceptual and practical implications. After defining these terms, I will use some examples to show that while pathologizing is closely tied to medicalizing, both can occur independently. I will then further develop this distinction in terms of the different individual and social effects of these practices.

Young people’s perspectives on the symptoms asked for in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey

“…Processes of medicalisation are often preceded by various types of pathologisation. To distinguish between the two concepts, pathologisation involves institutions labelling certain conditions as pathological, while medicalisation concerns the interventions that become justified because of this labelling (Scholl, 2017). The benefit of medicalisation is that deviants are less condemned and social stigma may decrease (Conrad, 2007).…”

Аспекти Анестезіологічного Забезпечення Хірургічного Лікування Пацієнтів Старших Вікових Груп

“…У таких людей нерідко спостерігають стійку втрату працездатності, все частіше вони потребують хірургічного лікування. У науковій літературі обговорюються існуючі проблеми стосовно медикалізації [5]; нерідко під цим терміном розуміється і негативний під-текст, пов'язаний насамперед із впливом медичних працівників на різні сфери людського життя, чому сприяють у пресі не завжди об'єктивні публікації стосовно високоефективних методів лікування низки тяжких захворювань у термінальній стадії органної недостатності (наприклад, у трансплантології), вирішення репродуктивних проблем або фармакотерапії (особливо стосовно психотропних лікарських препаратів) тощо.…”

Systems Medicine Disease: Disease Classification and Scalability Beyond Networks and Boundary Conditions

“…Medicalization is the assignment of a medical term to a condition where medical science does not provide a basis for classification as a disease; there are usually cultural and social forces that encourage a medical view of such a condition rather than relying on firm science and diagnostic progress (Sholl, 2017 ).…”