Medicalization of social processes

Abstract

Medicalization of social processes increasingly more involves societal areas and leads to the extension of disease concepts and the creation of new diseases. In this article the disciplines in psychiatry and psychotherapy will be discussed with reference to the trends towards medicalization. Particular attention is paid to the diagnostic models and their critical implementation. The interaction between societal conditions, the medical healthcare model and the individual will be presented and discussed with respect to their influence on medicalization and psychopathologization. Furthermore, the importance will be shown by which the increasing societal openness for psychic phenomena and the influence of mass media on the medicalization process becomes incorporated. At the individual level societal-typical psychological characteristics which have an influence on the readiness of individuals to experience themselves as sick and socially deficient will be elucidated. The pathologization and chronification processes are exemplified using the case of unemployment and the psychological sequelae, such as on the term burnout. Finally, approaches of a societal-critical medical and psychotherapeutic science and practice will be sketched.