The Medicalization of Everyday Life

The Medicalization of Everyday Life PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815608677
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This collection of impassioned essays, published between 1973 and 2006, chronicles Thomas Szasz’s long campaign against the orthodoxies of “pharmacracy,” that is, the alliance of medicine and the state. From “Diagnoses Are Not Diseases” to “The Existential Identity Thief,” “Fatal Temptation,” and “Killing as Therapy,” the book delves into the complex evolution of medicalization, concluding with “Pharmacracy: The New Despotism.” In practice, society must draw a line between what counts as medical practice and what does not. Where it draws that line goes far in defining the kinds of laws its citizens live under, the kinds of medical care they receive, and the kinds of lives they are allowed to live.

The Medicalization of Everyday Life

The Medicalization of Everyday Life PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815608677
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book

Book Description
This collection of impassioned essays, published between 1973 and 2006, chronicles Thomas Szasz’s long campaign against the orthodoxies of “pharmacracy,” that is, the alliance of medicine and the state. From “Diagnoses Are Not Diseases” to “The Existential Identity Thief,” “Fatal Temptation,” and “Killing as Therapy,” the book delves into the complex evolution of medicalization, concluding with “Pharmacracy: The New Despotism.” In practice, society must draw a line between what counts as medical practice and what does not. Where it draws that line goes far in defining the kinds of laws its citizens live under, the kinds of medical care they receive, and the kinds of lives they are allowed to live.

The Medicalisation of Everyday Life

The Medicalisation of Everyday Life PDF Author: Barbara Fawcett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350311197
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
This is timely new book examines the generally accepted understanding of the theory and practice of mental health. Drawing on historical and contemporary practices, it critically explores the concept of mental illness and how it is treated, the integration of health and social care, and providing a person-centred approach. As well as tackling more general aspects, such as how we categorise mental health and the contemporary practice around medication and treatment alternatives, it also focusses on specific areas currently labelled 'mental illness', including depression, anxiety, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Final chapters address the evidence for the effectiveness of psychopharmacology and the place of placebos in research and treatment, the importance of cultural sensitivity in a globalised world and the possibilities for the future practice in mental health services. The importance of non-medical alternative therapies and the incorporation of consumer perspectives in mental health service practice are highlighted throughout as a means of strengthening the experience of mental health service delivery for mental health professionals and consumers. Whether a student on a mental health nursing course, a social work student focussing on mental health, or a practitioner in the medical and allied health professions, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants a greater understanding of the theory and practice of mental health.

Saving Normal

Saving Normal PDF Author: Allen Frances, M.D.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062229273
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
From "the most powerful psychiatrist in America" (New York Times) and "the man who wrote the book on mental illness" (Wired), a deeply fascinating and urgently important critique of the widespread medicalization of normality Anyone living a full, rich life experiences ups and downs, stresses, disappointments, sorrows, and setbacks. These challenges are a normal part of being human, and they should not be treated as psychiatric disease. However, today millions of people who are really no more than "worried well" are being diagnosed as having a mental disorder and are receiving unnecessary treatment. In Saving Normal, Allen Frances, one of the world's most influential psychiatrists, warns that mislabeling everyday problems as mental illness has shocking implications for individuals and society: stigmatizing a healthy person as mentally ill leads to unnecessary, harmful medications, the narrowing of horizons, misallocation of medical resources, and draining of the budgets of families and the nation. We also shift responsibility for our mental well-being away from our own naturally resilient and self-healing brains, which have kept us sane for hundreds of thousands of years, and into the hands of "Big Pharma," who are reaping multi-billion-dollar profits. Frances cautions that the new edition of the "bible of psychiatry," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5), will turn our current diagnostic inflation into hyperinflation by converting millions of "normal" people into "mental patients." Alarmingly, in DSM-5, normal grief will become "Major Depressive Disorder"; the forgetting seen in old age is "Mild Neurocognitive Disorder"; temper tantrums are "Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder"; worrying about a medical illness is "Somatic Symptom Disorder"; gluttony is "Binge Eating Disorder"; and most of us will qualify for adult "Attention Deficit Disorder." What's more, all of these newly invented conditions will worsen the cruel paradox of the mental health industry: those who desperately need psychiatric help are left shamefully neglected, while the "worried well" are given the bulk of the treatment, often at their own detriment. Masterfully charting the history of psychiatric fads throughout history, Frances argues that whenever we arbitrarily label another aspect of the human condition a "disease," we further chip away at our human adaptability and diversity, dulling the full palette of what is normal and losing something fundamental of ourselves in the process. Saving Normal is a call to all of us to reclaim the full measure of our humanity.

Dictionary of Global Bioethics

Dictionary of Global Bioethics PDF Author: Henk ten Have
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030541614
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1063

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Book Description
This Dictionary presents a broad range of topics relevant in present-day global bioethics. With more than 500 entries, this dictionary covers organizations working in the field of global bioethics, international documents concerning bioethics, personalities that have played a role in the development of global bioethics, as well as specific topics in the field.The book is not only useful for students and professionals in global health activities, but can also serve as a basic tool that explains relevant ethical notions and terms. The dictionary furthers the ideals of cosmopolitanism: solidarity, equality, respect for difference and concern with what human beings- and specifically patients - have in common, regardless of their backgrounds, hometowns, religions, gender, etc. Global problems such as pandemic diseases, disasters, lack of care and medication, homelessness and displacement call for global responses.This book demonstrates that a moral vision of global health is necessary and it helps to quickly understand the basic ideas of global bioethics.

The Medicalization of Society

The Medicalization of Society PDF Author: Peter Conrad
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 0801892341
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Over the past half-century, the social terrain of health and illness has been transformed. What were once considered normal human events and common human problems—birth, aging, menopause, alcoholism, and obesity—are now viewed as medical conditions. For better or worse, medicine increasingly permeates aspects of daily life. Building on more than three decades of research, Peter Conrad explores the changing forces behind this trend with case studies of short stature, social anxiety, "male menopause," erectile dysfunction, adult ADHD, and sexual orientation. He examines the emergence of and changes in medicalization, the consequences of the expanding medical domain, and the implications for health and society. He finds in recent developments—such as the growing number of possible diagnoses and biomedical enhancements—the future direction of medicalization. Conrad contends that the impact of medical professionals on medicalization has diminished. Instead, the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries, insurance companies and HMOs, and the patient as consumer have become the major forces promoting medicalization. This thought-provoking study offers valuable insight into not only how medicalization got to this point but also how it may continue to evolve.

De-Medicalizing Misery

De-Medicalizing Misery PDF Author: M. Rapley
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230342507
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Psychiatry and psychology have constructed a mental health system that does no justice to the problems it claims to understand and creates multiple problems for its users. Yet the myth of biologically-based mental illness defines our present. The book rethinks madness and distress reclaiming them as human, not medical, experiences.

Medical Sociology on the Move

Medical Sociology on the Move PDF Author: William C. Cockerham
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400761937
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book provides readers with a single source reviewing and updating sociological theory in medical or health sociology. The book not only addresses the major theoretical approaches in the field today, it also identifies the future directions these theories are likely to take in explaining the social processes affecting health and disease. Many of the chapters are written by leading medical sociologists who feature the use of theory in their everyday work, including contributions from the original theorists of fundamental causes, health lifestyles, and medicalization. Theories focusing on both agency and structure are included to provide a comprehensive account of this important area in medical sociology.

Digital Health and the Gamification of Life

Digital Health and the Gamification of Life PDF Author: Antonio Maturo
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1787543668
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
This book analyzes the role of health apps to promote medicalization. It considers whether their use is an individual matter, rather than a political and social one, with some apps based on a medical framework positively promoting physical activity and meditation, or whether data-sharing can foster social discrimination.

Last Well Person

Last Well Person PDF Author: Nortin M. Hadler
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773572252
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Hadler systematically builds the case that many medical interventions are hazardous to our health. Especially insidious is the misuse of longevity statistics in turning the difficulties experienced through a natural course of life, such as aging and osteoporosis, into illnesses. He argues that unfounded assertions and flagrant marketing have led to the medicalization of everyday life and he offers practical solutions on such topics as aging, obesity, adult onset diabetes, and back problems. In The Last Well Person Hadler addresses the tough questions about our health care, cutting through the medical white noise.

Rethinking Aging

Rethinking Aging PDF Author: Nortin M. Hadler, M.D.
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807869239
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
For those fortunate enough to reside in the developed world, death before reaching a ripe old age is a tragedy, not a fact of life. Although aging and dying are not diseases, older Americans are subject to the most egregious marketing in the name of "successful aging" and "long life," as if both are commodities. In Rethinking Aging, Nortin M. Hadler examines health-care choices offered to aging Americans and argues that too often the choices serve to profit the provider rather than benefit the recipient, leading to the medicalization of everyday ailments and blatant overtreatment. Rethinking Aging forewarns and arms readers with evidence-based insights that facilitate health-promoting decision making. Over the past decade, Hadler has established himself as a leading voice among those who approach the menu of health-care choices with informed skepticism. Only the rigorous demonstration of efficacy is adequate reassurance of a treatment's value, he argues; if it cannot be shown that a particular treatment will benefit the patient, one should proceed with caution. In Rethinking Aging, Hadler offers a doctor's perspective on the medical literature as well as his long clinical experience to help readers assess their health-care options and make informed medical choices in the last decades of life. The challenges of aging and dying, he eloquently assures us, can be faced with sophistication, confidence, and grace.