Medicalization and its Social Context

Abstract

The thesis establishes a basic concept of medicalization , with a special focus on psychological and behavioural disorders. Back then, it was advocated through the medical profession, social movements and interest groups. Now, a shift in the engines of increasing medicalization have been observed in the form of consumers, biotechnology, managed care and the drug industry. I also touch upon how medicalization had helped in psychiatrization in the United States. This work mentions the symbiosis between the drug industry and psychiatry. Furthermore, the new fields in which medicalization can expand to have been discussed here as well.