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Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness and Safety of Shugan Jieyu Capsules for the Treatment of Insomnia

Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness and Safety of Shugan Jieyu Capsules for the Treatment of Insomnia

Published on: February 17, 2023

Insomnia, Medicalization, and Expert Knowledge.

Kenton Kroker¹

¹Kenton Kroker - Health & Society Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History = Bulletin Canadien D'Histoire De La Medecine

|May 4, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

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.

Keywords:

auto-expérimentation biomedicine biomédecine cognitive behavioural therapy insomnia insomnie literature and medicine littérature et médecine medicalization médecine du sommeil médicalisation psychologie psychology self-experimentation sleep medicine thérapie cognitivo-comportementale

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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.