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Insomnia, Medicalization, and Expert Knowledge
1Kenton Kroker - Health & Society Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Summary
Insomnia became a medical pathology in the 1870s, but its history is unique. Sleepless individuals, not doctors, often diagnose insomnia, shaping self-care and self-experimentation.
Area of Science:
- History of Medicine
- Medical Sociology
- Psychology
Background:
- Sleeplessness is a long-standing human experience.
- Insomnia's medicalization as a pathology emerged in the 1870s.
- Classical medicalization theory inadequately explains insomnia's history.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the historical trajectory of insomnia as a medical and social phenomenon.
- To examine the role of patients and medical experts in defining insomnia.
- To explore the concept of insomnia as a boundary object.
Main Methods:
- Historical analysis of medical and psychological literature.
- Examination of public health records and discourse.
- Application of boundary object theory.
Main Results:
- Insomnia's pathological status developed in the late 19th century.
- Patients, rather than solely medical experts, hold diagnostic authority for insomnia.
- Insomnia functions as a boundary object integrating biomedical and psychological perspectives.
Conclusions:
- Insomnia's history challenges traditional medicalization models.
- The concept of insomnia as a boundary object offers a more accurate framework.
- Contemporary understandings of insomnia involve self-medicalization and self-experimentation.
Keywords:
auto-expérimentationbiomedicinebiomédecinecognitive behavioural therapyinsomniainsomnieliterature and medicinelittérature et médecinemedicalizationmédecine du sommeilmédicalisationpsychologiepsychologyself-experimentationsleep medicinethérapie cognitivo-comportementaleMore Related Videos
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