Insomnia, Medicalization, and Expert Knowledge

Area of Science:

• History of Medicine
• Medical Sociology
• Psychology

Background:

• Sleeplessness is a long-standing human experience.
• Insomnia emerged as a distinct medical pathology around the 1870s.
• Classical medicalization theories do not fully explain insomnia's history.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the historical development of insomnia as a medical condition.
• To explore the unique dynamics of insomnia's medicalization.
• To understand the role of patients and medical experts in defining insomnia.

Main Methods:

• Historical analysis of medical and psychological literature.
• Examination of public health interventions related to sleep.
• Application of boundary object theory to understand medical concepts.

Main Results:

• Insomnia's pathological status arose in the late 19th century.
• Patient self-diagnosis and authority challenge traditional medicalization models.
• Insomnia functions as a boundary object, integrating biomedical and psychological perspectives.

Conclusions:

• The history of insomnia is characterized by patient agency, not solely medical authority.
• Insomnia's definition evolves at the intersection of patient experience and medical/psychological frameworks.
• Contemporary understandings of insomnia involve self-medicalization and self-experimentation.