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How to distinguish medicalization from over-medicalization?
1Ethics Department, Center for Bioethics and Biolaw, Institute of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 3, 00-097, Warsaw, Poland. emilia.kaczmarek@uw.edu.pl.
Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy
|June 29, 2018
Summary
Medicalization involves defining issues as medical problems, which can have varied consequences. This article provides criteria to distinguish appropriate medicalization from over-medicalization, aiding bioethical reflection on medicine's boundaries.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Medical Sociology
Background:
- Medicalization is the expansion of medical jurisdiction into non-medical domains.
- The consequences of medicalization vary significantly based on its appropriateness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish pragmatic criteria for differentiating medicalization from over-medicalization.
- To foster a normative analysis of medicalization and its ethical implications.
Main Methods:
- Identification of consequences for both justified medicalization and over-medicalization.
- Analysis of the limitations of an optimal health model in defining medicine's boundaries.
- Proposal of guiding questions for distinguishing between medicalization and over-medicalization.
Main Results:
- Medicalization's impact depends critically on whether the issue is appropriately medical.
- Defining medicine's limits requires more than an ideal health model.
- Four key questions are proposed to guide the distinction between medicalization and over-medicalization.
Conclusions:
- Neither uncritical acceptance nor blanket criticism of medicalization is warranted.
- The proposed criteria aid in bioethical reflection on the appropriate scope of medicine.
- Distinguishing medicalization from over-medicalization is crucial for responsible medical practice.
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