What is conceptual medicalization?

The theoretical concept of medicalization means the redefinition of a problem in medical language [BER 09]. For Peter Conrad [CON 92], medicalization refers to the process through which non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, generally in terms of illness or disorder.

How did Irving Zola define Medicalisation?

2 Zola defined medicalisation as the process of ‘making medicine and the labels “healthy” and “ill” relevant to an ever increasing part of human existence’ (1972:487; his emphasis), suggesting as had Pitts, that illness is socially defined or ‘constructed’. Zola identified four dimensions of medicalisation.

What is an example of medicalization?

The Medicalization of Obesity Examples of medicalized disorders include menopause, alcoholism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anorexia, infertility, sleep disorders, and erectile dysfunction (ED) [3].

How does something become medicalized?

Medicalization can be driven by new evidence or hypotheses about conditions; by changing social attitudes or economic considerations; or by the development of new medications or treatments.

How are we changing the concept of medicalization?

I argue for a “knowledge-based” approach to medicalization by opening up the definition of “making things medical” to include all forms of medical knowledge in a global society. The concept of medicalization can then be replaced with medicalizations (plural).

Is the concept of medicalisation a multi-dimensional concept?

The emergence of the modern day consumer not only raises questions about the notion of medicalisation as a uni-dimensional concept, but also requires consideration of the specific social contexts in which medicalisation occurs.

What did Busfield mean by the concept of medicalisation?

Medicalisation, which he did not define, was evidenced by increases in healthcare spending and prescribed medications, medicine’s growing involvement in birth and death, the focus on preventing sickness, and rising public expectations of ‘medical breakthroughs’.

Why was medicalization considered a form of social control?

These sociologists viewed medicalization as a form of social control in which medical authority expanded into domains of everyday existence, and they rejected medicalization in the name of liberation.