Biomedicalization: Scientific Western Medicine

Introduction
Scientific western medicine has taken a rise over the second half of the twentieth century transforming and expanding American medicine. Medicalization and biomedicalization are co-existence factors in today’s health system. However, biomedicalization is a transformation process of medicalization (a condition defined using biological terminology to understand it and/or uses medical treatment) (Clarke, Mamo, Fishman, Shim & Fosket, 2003). Biomedicine has become a dominant medical framework that has redefined sectors that were once categorized as legal, moral and social aspects to be defined as medical conditions and offers the public curative solutions (Clarke et al, 2003). The adaptation of biomedicalization has created this
Biomedicine has generated new forms of disease and illness causing the expansion of treatments, diagnosis, drug development and so forth (Clarke et al, 2003; Conrad & Leiter, 2004). This new era of medicalization has been enhanced through popular media due to power. To further elaborate, those individuals with empowerment including the Government and medical experts have enabled the adaptation of biomedicine and technoscience to arise and transform the health care system. As biomedicine becomes a norm in the western world, more treatment and drugs are developed and approved by the FDA. Americans are spending double the amount of money on prescription drugs (more than 100 billion dollars) in comparison to the amount spent in 1990 (Clarke et al, 2003). Pharmaceuticals continue to grow, generating and expanding the economy financial state. With this being said, those in power are using social media (which will be elaborated upon while analyzing the Prozac advertisement in Appendix A) to promote and market these “lifestyle” drugs which is results in the advancement of biomedicine. This process is accomplished through anxiety provoking discourse and encouragement of self-diagnosis which will be further discussed
Those with authority and power are using social medial (including campaigns and advertisements) to enhance biomedicine, for example the Prozac advertisement (Appendix A). Prozac is a drug treatment used for depression, social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Since biomedicine has expanded the medical jurisdiction including emotional symptoms as a medicalized condition, SAD and GAD were placed into the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Conrad & Leiter; 2004). The advertisement portrays to that Prozac is a suitable cure for depression and anxiety. The Prozac ad illustrates a packaging that mimics laundry detergent, a form of marketing discourse to stereotype housewives. The advertisement, clearly resembling the marketing for Tide, uses a subliminal slogan “Wash you blues away!” to convince and target specific consumers to buy into the concept. Biomedical discourse is moulding a cautious society to seek medical advice at the onset of symptoms. Society today is looking for a quick solution to these everyday life symptoms that are now considered to be diseases (Clarke et al, 2003). As noted above, those in power are using social media to advance biomedicine