The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders

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.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Concepts 1. Medicalization: Context, Characteristics, and Changes Part II: Cases 2. Extension: Men and the Medicalization of Andropause, Baldness, and Erectile Dysfunction 3. Expansion: From Hyperactive Children to Adult ADHD 4. Enhancement: Human Growth Hormone and the Temptations of Biomedical Enhancement 5. Continuity: Homosexuality and the Potential for Remedicalization Part III: Constraints and Consequences 6. Measuring Medicalization: Categories, Numbers, and Treatment 7. The Shifting Engines of Medicalization 8. Medicalization and Its Discontents Notes References Index

About the Author :
Peter Conrad is the Coplan Professor of Social Sciences at Brandeis University. He is the coauthor of Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness and coeditor of The Double-Edged Helix, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Review :
"A lucid overview of a complex field that astutely recounts and analyzes the latest twists and turns in the long saga of our love/hate relationship with the health professions, the pharmaceutical industry, and the corporate organization of health care." - Steven Epstein, author of Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge "No one in America brings more insight to the thorny issue of medicalization than Peter Conrad. The Medicalization of Society is a deeply impressive summation of more than thirty years of work." - Carl Elliott, University of Minnesota, author of Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream"