Medicalization for understanding shifting ideas about health and illness

Medicalization for intelligence shifting ideas astir(predicate) wellness and illnessMedicalization is shape for the erroneous magnetic dip by family-often perpetuated by health nonrecreationals to view personal effects of sociostinting wrong as purely checkup checkup issues. It is the act by which human full names and fusss set about to be desexd and c be fored asmedical conditionsand problems, and thence draw under the guidance of doctors and otherhealth businessalsto study,diagnose,preventortreat. The bear on of medicalization base be driven by new evidence or theories about conditions, or by develop custodyts in accessible attitudes or economic con gradientrations, or by the development of new purportedtreatments. Medicalization is often claimed to bring benefits, moreover withal costs, which may not always be clear. Medicalization is studied in terms of the manipulation and power ofprofessions, patients and corporations, and besides for its implica tions for familiar citizenry whose self-identity and life-decisions may depend on the prevailing opinions ofhealthandillness. erst a condition is classed as medical, a medicaltends to be apply instead than a kindly model. Medicalization may also be termed pathologization (frompathology), or in just about shiftsdisease mongering.The innovation of medicalization has educated the sociology of health and illness for umteen days now. Typic every last(predicate)y, it has been deliberated and examined with critical nuance, though some key thinkers within the discipline accommodate mentioned that it is not unequivocally negative. Conrad criticised and disputed that the development and growth of medical authority into domains of ordinary existence was promoted by doctors and was a force of social ascertain that was to be rejected in the name of liberation (Conrad 1973). Medicalization describes a regale by which non-medical problems be issue forth defined and treated as medic al problems, comm only in terms of illness or disorders (Gabe et al. 200459) and likewise be merely classified as a procedure of change magnitude medical noise into argonas which would more often than not be outside of the medical province.The termmedicalizationentered academic and medical publications in the 1970s, for example in the whole works of figures untold(prenominal) as Peter ConradandThomas Szasz. They argued that the expansion of medical authority into domains of everyday existence was promoted by doctors and was a force of social control that was to be rejected in the name ofliberation. This critique was embodied in now-classic works such(prenominal) as Conrads The discovery of hyperkinesis notes on medicalization of deviance, published in 1973 (hyperkinesiswas the term then mapd to describe what we might now callADHD).Medicalization explains a situation which had been previously explained in a moral, religious or social terms now be deduce defined as the subject of medical and scientific fel outsetship.Many years ago for example some children were deemed and regarded as problematical, misbehaving and unruly. Some adults were shy and men who were balding just wore hats to hide it. And that was that. Nevertheless, nowadays all these descriptions could and possibly would be attri stilled to a type of illness or disease and be given a diagnosis or medicate to treat it in some cases. Medicalization explains this. Likewise, medicalization has been applied to a whole mutation of problems that stimulate come to be defined as medial, ranging from childbearing and the change of life through to potomania and homosexuality (Gabe et al. 2006 59). Furthermore, the term explains the process in where fussy characteristics of every day life constitute medically explained, thence come under the authority of doctors and otherhealth professionals to study,diagnose,preventand ortreat the problem.Originally, the concept of medicalisation was strongly associated with medical dominance, involving the extension of euphonys jurisdiction over erstwhile(prenominal) radiation pattern life events and experiences. More recently, however, this view of a docile come in populace, in thrall to expansionist medicament, has been challenged. Thus, as we enter a post- new era, with increased concerns over risk and a decline in the trust of in force(p) authority, many sociologists argue that the modern day consumer of healthc atomic number 18 plays an active use of goods and services in bringing about or resisting medicalisation. Such participation, however, crapper be problematic as healthc ar consumers do increasingly aware of the risks and dubiousness touch many medical choices. 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. In this paper, we describe how the concept of medicalisation is presented in the literature, outlining different accounts of agency that shape the process. We suggest that some former accounts of medicalisation over-emphasized the medical professions imperialistic tendencies and often underplayed the benefits of medicine. With consideration of the social context in which medicalisation, or its converse, arises, we argue that medicalisation is a much more complex, ambiguous, and contested process than the medicalisation thesis of the 1970s implied. In particular, as we enter a post-modern era, conceptualizing medicalisation as a uni-dimensional, uniform process or as the result of medical dominance alone is clearly insufficient. Indeed, if, as Conrad and Schneider (1992) suggested, medicalisation was linked to the rise of rationalism and science (ie to modernity), and if we are experiencing the passing of modernity, we might expect to see a decrease in medicalisation.The idea of medicalization is perhaps relate d only indirectly to social constructionanism, in that it does not question the basis of medical knowledge as such, but challenges its application. Nettleton continues and states that is draws attention to the particular that medicine operates as a powerful institution of social control (Nettleton 2006 25). It does this by claiming expertise in areas in life which previously were not regarded as medical problems or matters. This includes such life stages such as ageing, childbirth, alcohol consumption and puerility behaviour moreover, the avail readiness of new pharmacological treatments and genetic testing intensifies these processes thus it constructs, or redefines, aspects of normal life as medical problems. (Conrad and Schneider 1990 as cited in Nettleton 2006 25).Medicalization can occur on three different and particular trains agree to Conrad and Schneider (1980). The first was explained as conceptually when a medical vocabulary is used to define a problem. In some instance s, doctors do not cause to be involved and an example if this is AA.The second was the institutional direct, institutionally, when organizations adopt a medical approach to treating a problem in which they specialise and the third gear was at the level of doctor patient interaction when a problem is defined as a medical and medical treatment occurs (as cited in Gabe et al 200459). These examples all involve doctors and their treatments directly, not including alcoholism which has other figures to support people such as the AA.The third level was the interactional level and this was where the problem, social problem, becomes defined as medical and medicalization occurs as part of a doctor-patient interaction.Medicalization shows the shifting ideas about health and illness. Health and illness does not only include such things as influenza or the cold, but deviant behaviours. Deviant behaviours which were once merely described as criminal, immoral or naughty before take on now be en labelled with medical meanings. Conrad and Schneider five-staged incidental process of medicalizing deviant behaviour.Stage one involves the behaviour itself as macrocosm deviant. Chronic drunkenness was regarded merely as highly undesirable, before it was medically labelled as chronic drunkenness. The second stage occurs when the medical designing of a deviant behaviour is announced in a professional medical journey according to Conrad and Schneider.A prominent thinker in the idea of medicalization was Ivan Illich, who studied it profusely and was very authoritative, in fact macrocosm one of the earliest philosophers to use the term medicalization. Illichs appraisal of professional medicine and particularly his use of the term medicalization lead him to become very influential within the discipline and is quoted to have said that Modern medicine is a negation of health. It isnt organized to serve human health, but only itself, as an institution. It makes more people frantic than it heals.Illich attributed medicalization to the increasing professionalization and bureaucratization of medical institutions associated with industrialization (Gabe et al 2004 61). He supposed that due to the development of modern medicine, it created a confidence on medicine and doctors thus taking away peoples ability to envision after themselves and engage in self care.In his book Limits to medicine Medical nemesis (1975) Illich disputed that the medical profession in burden of fact harms people in a process known asiatrogenesis. This can be elucidated as when there is an increase in illness and social problems as a direct result of medical intercession. Illich maxim this occurring on three levels.The first was the clinical iatrogenesis. These involved seriousside-effectswhich were are often worse than the original condition. The negative effects of the clinical intervention outweighed the positive and it also conveyed the dangers of modern medicine. There were negati ve side effects of medicine and drugs, which included poisoning people. In addition, infections which could be caught in the infirmary such as MRSA and errors caused my medical negligence.The second level was the social iatrogenesis whereby the habitual public is made submissive and reliant on the medical profession to help them cope with their life in society. Furthermore all torment is hospitalised and medicine undermines health indirectly because of its impact on social transcription of society. In the process people cease to give birth, for example, be sick or die at homeAnd the third level is cultural iatrogenesis, which can also be referred to as the structural. This is where life processes such as aging and dying become medicalized which in the process creates a society which is not able to deal with natural life process thus becoming a culture of dependence. Moreover, people are dispossessed of their ability to cope with pain or bereavement for example as people rely on medicine and professionals. (Illick 1975)Sociologists such as Ehrenreich and English had argued that womens bodies were be medicalized.Menstruationandpregnancyhad come to be seen as medical problems requiring interventions such ashysterectomies. Nettleton furthered this notion and discussed this in relation to childbirth. The Medicalization of childbirth is as a result of professional dominance. She stated that the control of pregnancy and childbirth has been interpreted over by a predominantly male medical profession. care for can thus be regarded as patriarchal and exercising an unjustified social control over womens lives. From conception to the birth of the baby, the women are tight monitored thus medical monitoring and intervention in pregnancy childbirth are now routine processes. Childbirth is classified as a medical problem therefore it becomes conceptualized in terms of clinical safety, and women are encouraged to have their babies in hospitals. This consequently result s in women being subject on medical care.Nevertheless recent studies and evidence have shown that it may actually be safer to have babies at home because there would have been less susceptible to infection and technocological interference (Oakley 1884, as cited in Nettleton 2006 26)Medicalization combines phenomenological and red approaches of health and illness in that it considers commentarys of illness to be products of social interactions or negotiations which are inherently unequal (Nettleton 2006 26). Marxism discussed medicalization and linked it with oppression, arguing that medicine can disguise the underlying causes of disease which include poverty and social inequality. In the process they see health as an individual problem, rather than a societys problem.Medicalization is studied in terms of the role and power ofprofessions, patients and corporations, and also for its implications for ordinary people whose self-identity and life-decisions may depend on the prevailin g concepts ofhealth andillness. Once a condition is classed as medical, amedical model of deteriorationtends to be used rather than asocial model. It constructs, or redefines, aspects of normal life as medical problems (Nettleton 2006 26).Medicalization has been referred to as the processes by which social phenomena come to be perceived and treated as illnesses. It is the process in by issues and experiences that have previously been accounted for in religious, moral, or social contexts then become defined as the subject of scientific medical knowledge.The idea itself questions the judgement that physical conditions themselves constitute an illness. It argues that the classification and identification of diseases is socially constructed and. It has been suggested that medicine is seen as being instilled with subjective assumptions of the society in which it developed. Moreover, it argues that the classification and identification of diseases is socially constructed and, along with the rest of science, is far from achieving the ideals of objectivity and neutrality. The medical thesis has much to recommendincluding the creation of new understanding of the social processes involved in the development and response to medical diagnosis and treatmentTo understand the level of social power that the medical lodge exercises through medicalization, Conrad explains that physicians have medicalized social deviance. They accomplish this by claiming the medical basis of matters such as hyperactivity, madness, alcoholism and compulsive gambling Conrad, p 107. Bymedicalizingsocial matters, medical professionals have the power to legitimize negative social port, such as the case of suspected killers in judicial courts who claim temporary insanity and are, therefore, percipient on medical basis Conrad, p 111. In extending this concept, the endocrinal golf club may have medicalized social deviance in men who digest their work motivation or become characteristically unple asant because they are experiencing andropause. In effect, despondency in fourth-year men might become an exponent of male menopause rather than a possible indicator of social deviance.Physicians also play a direct and significant role in the medicalization of social experiences. In analyzing the doctor-patient interaction of medicalization, Kaw argues that medical professionals have medicalized racial features by encouraging cosmetic surgery among Asiatic American women, for example, in order to avoid the stereotypical physical features of small and slanty eyes that are often associated with passivity, dullness and lack of sociability Kaw, p 75. Kaw asserts that plastic surgeons use medical terms to problematize the shape of their eyes so as to define it as a medical condition Kaw, p 81. Their use of technological terms and expressions should be questioned, especially since the power of such language influences Asian American women to pursue cosmetic surgery, when it is not nec essary Kaw, p 82. Analogously, the Endocrine Society medicalized testosterone deficiency by defining it as Andropause this helped perpetuate the notion, among old(a) individuals, that if they lack sexual drive or sense depression and fatigue, they should try on medical attention because they are experiencing an acute medical condition rather than a stage in the physiological cycle.The role played by the health care structures in medicalizing conditions is levyd by that of the pharmaceutical industry. In order to achieve implementation of a drug in the market, the medicalization of a problem is critical Conrad, p 111. Once a medical definition for male menopause was established, the pharmaceutical company further medicalized the problem by launching strong advertisement campaigns aimed at older men and physicians alike, so as to popularize the drug among the general public and medical community Groopman, 2002. In aTimemagazine advertisement, the industry appealed to the emotions o f older men by linking low sex drive to the decline of testosterone levels rather than to a life process Groopman 2002. In this manner, the pharmaceutical industries profit based political orientation facilitates the medicalization of testosterone deficiency by popularizing conditions that may be exceedingly common among health product consumers.Medicalization also changes patients ideologies of biomedicine and leads them to believe that biomedicine must not only cater cure for illnesses, but also offer life enhancements. Similar to the way that impotence and hair loss was medicalized by promoting drugs like Viagra to enhance sexual performance, and solutions like Rogaine for hair re-growth, male menopause has been medicalized because it causes low sex drive among other general symptoms Groopman, 2002. As a consequence, older men will opt to not only seek but demand life enhancements achievable through medicine disregarding the fact that such treatments can be detrimental to healt h. In fact, Groopman states that known side effect of testosterone therapy include abnormal enlargement of the breasts, testicular shrinkage, congestive heart failure and enlargement of the prostate gland Groopman, 2002. Medicalizing a problem can be harmful and deadly, yet medical professionals perpetuate this dangerous behavior by medicalizing conditions that patients may seek to treat for their personal wellbeingIt is classic to realize that medicalization is not merely the result of medical imperialism but rather the interactive process that involves society and the health community Conrad, p 115. It includes patients and doctors alike. Nonetheless, sensation of the mechanisms by which the medical community affects society is important because medicine pertains to all health consumers. Male menopause only serves as one of the many examples of life experiences that have become medicalized by the healthcare community.Concluding this essay, the concept of medicalization started with the medical dominance which involved the increase of medicines influence and labelling over things regarded as normal life events and experiences. However in recent time, this view of a submissive lay populace, in thrall to expansionist medicine, has been challenged. As a consequence, as we enter a post-modern era, with increased concerns over risk and a decline in the trust of expert authority, many sociologists argue that the modern day consumer of healthcare plays an active role in bringing about or resisting medicalization. Furthermore Such participationcan be problematic as healthcare consumers become increasingly aware of the risks and uncertainty surrounding many medical choices. Moreover 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 (Ballard and Elston 2005). In addition they suggest that as we enter a post-modern era, conceptualizing medicalisation as a uni-dimensional or as the result of medical dominance primarily is insufficient.