The Benefits Of Medicalization

Medicalization is the process in which non-medical issues are redefined in terms of illnesses or disorders and treated with the assistance of biomedicine. As medicalization evolves, medical intervention is used to alleviate the undesired symptoms of human life, which often leads to pharmaceutical companies developing and advertising medications to assist in treating medicalized illnesses. As a result, more and more human processes and behaviors being diagnosed as medical or pathological illnesses are being treated with medications that remove the discomforts of aging, mood fluctuation, grief and deviant behaviors; allowing one to be better than well. While many medicalized illness can be treated without pharmaceutical intervention, drug therapy
Irving Zola, and Joseph Schneider (Overgaard, et al., 2014, p. 743). Published studies primarily focus on medical interventions of deviant behaviors, mental health, personality differences, aging, and the role that medical intervention has played in society. Additionally, studies also examine the increase of pharmaceutical advertising that robustly stimulates the invention of illness and targets consumers to self-diagnose through check-lists of symptoms (Maturo, 2012, p. 124). Ultimately, most theorists agree that by describing certain aspects of life and human differences as pathologies, the institution of medicine has metamorphosed into an institution of social control, therefore dictating what is normal and acceptable within society, and what should be classified as a medical condition in order to correct or control undesirable and deviant behaviors. (Conrad,
Although the use of pharmaceuticals is not directly associated with medicalization, pharmaceutical or drug therapy is often used in the treatment of social, behavioral, and certain pathological conditions when considered necessary or beneficial by medical professionals, patients, or both (Maturo, 2012, p. 125). Considering the diagnosis of mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety, medications classified as antidepressants are often used to decrease the undesired symptoms. Subsequently, in the treatment of ADHD, stimulants that include Methylphenidate are commonly prescribed to patients of all ages to control or eliminate certain behaviors. Further, in cases of disease risk factors, such as predisposition for developing heart disease, drug therapies are often used to lower cholesterol or regulated blood pressure in order to prevent the development of the disease. Treating the mentioned conditions with medications is considered to be pharmaceuticalization, as it is possible to manage the mentioned conditions successfully with non-pharmaceutical therapies that include psychotherapy, behavior modification therapy, and life-style change (p.