Question

What is the medicalization of behavior?

Answer 1

Medicalization of behaviour is the process by which human behavious comes to be defined and treated as medical conditions, and thus become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment.

Past years have witnessed an increase in physiological explaination of common disorders such as depression and anxiety, a phenonmenon termed “medicalization”. Psychologist find it difficult to implement non-drug treatment with a population that has become inundated with explanations and opt for medication as the treatment of choice. Research frequently cited in support of medicalization includes studies of drug effectiveness, as well as family studies and studies of brain structure and function. Methodological and interpretation difficulties within those bodies of research are described and recommendations are made so that psychologists function optimally within the culture of biological causation.