Question

1- In your own words, what is medicalization? How does this contribute to social control? 2- Please either watch Peter Conrad's guest video. LINK FOR THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l8LJjy5B2g Answer the following questions: A- What stood out to you and/or interested you? Discuss. B- What were Conrad’s main point(s) about medicalization? 3- The reading and Conrad’s lecture/reading discussed multiple examples of medicalization. Please do mini-research on one example of medicalization (either one briefly discussed in the content or an example not discussed yet). You may choose something medicalized in either physical or mental health. After researching your topic, please teach your peers about your topic. Address the following points: What your topic is? How is this medicalized? Has this changed over time? If so, how? Are there groups/people who disagree with this being medicalized? If yes, please discuss their point of view? What are the benefits to this being medicalized? What are the consequences/negatives of this being medicalized?

Answer 1

1- MEDICALIZATION : - The term medical is very well known. It means to examine the health of a person. Now the question is how one decides that the person's health has to be examined,diagnosed or cured? Here comes the term medicalization. When a person's condition seems to be diagnosed and cured through medical examination is included in medicalization. So, Medicalization includes all the medical terms which explain the human conditions which has gone out of control and need to be examined and diagnosed in our society. For example ADHD(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), obesity, baldness etc.

Medicalization is contributing a lot to social control. Today our society gets very much effected with medical terms. We see medically effected people and normal people with different eyes.For example if a person is fat, society does not bother about his or her fatness but if he/she comes under the term obesity (which has come under medicalization recently) then the whole society gets bothered about the person. The same thing happens with all the terms be it ADHD, PTSD,Sleep disorder, Infertility etc. These all terms were not that big earlier but as after they got medicalized and got so much of attention from our society. This does not mean that these things did not exist earlier but after medicalization only there was a big place made for them by our society.Sometimes it is good to be aware about our health conditions but sometimes it may have some sideeffects also.

2 :- A) In the given video where guest PETER CONRAD is delivering a lecture on medicalization the things interested me are :

i) the whole process of medicalization was presented in a very good manner. How earlier in 1970's alcoholism,serious mental disorders, hyperactivity etc terms has been converted into obesity,anorexia,PMS,ADHD,anxiety and mood, sexual and gender difference, risk etc.

ii)Characterstics of medicalizations were also explained. Which covered all the aspects like:-

• It can expand and contract the terms included
• degree of medicalization also includes in it
• many variations can be seen
• bi directional nature of medicalization eg it can include and exclude the term.

iii)Many shifting engines were also included in this video eg.

• Earlier scientists or biotechnology was the main decider
• now consumers are also getting involve to define medicalized terms
• physicians are also playing important role in medicalization

iv)The important part of the video was where its reason were discussed i.e. the change of the definition of normality. Now a person who is not socialy recognised or social is not medically fit eg. shyness, aged etc

v)In one part there was also the explaination of social control and medicalization. Here it was explained that our society has developed the habbit of medical excuses. Which seems to be very much tru now a days. For each and every thing we carry over our responsibilties to those medical excuses.

In the end it can be said that our society needs to be aware about the health condition but when all the conditions will be include under medicalizations this whole world will be full of abnormalities only. We need to understand the definition of normality.