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Medicalization and health care
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The term medicalization refers to the process by which some aspects of human life is taken as medical problems, which were not considered as pathologic before and then are attempted to bring it back to the normal condition through the use of medicine or drugs. In other words, it is about identifying the causes of physical disorders; often a non-medical problem located in an individual body and thereby seeks for treatment and management for the disorder. As defined by Kleinman, medicalization is the process of interpreting the forms of human misery as health problem. The example of ‘depressive disorder’ as Kleinman gives help us to understand the concept of medicalization as the process in which the suffering of the patient is reinterpreted
The dominant biomedical model of health does not take into consideration lay perspectives (SITE BOOK). Lay perspectives go into detail about ordinary people’s common sense and personal experiences. A cultural perspective, like the Hmong cultures perspective on health, is considered a lay perspective. Unlike the Hmong culture, where illness is viewed as the imbalance between the soul and the body, the dominant biomedical model of health views health in terms of pathology and disease (SITE THE BOOK). Although the Hmong culture considers spiritual and environmental factors, the dominant biomedical model of health only looks at health through a biological perspective, and neglects the environment and psychological factors that affect health. Depression in the U.S. is a medical illness caused by neurochemical or hormonal imbalance and certain styles of thinking. Depression is the result of unfortunate experiences that the brain has difficulties processing (SITE 7). Unlike the Hmong culture, where Hmong’s who are diagnosed with depression report the interaction between a spirit, people diagnosed with depression in the Western culture report themselves to having symptoms such as feeling tired, miserable and suicidal (SITE
The social constructive approach to depression is summed up by 'the fact that the body became legible does not imply that some invariant biological reality was finally revealed to medical enquiry. The body was only legible in that there existed in the new clinical techniques a language by which it could be read.' (Armstrong, 1983) which exemplified the subjective practice of this approach. This methodology is qualitative and focuses on how objects and events are constituted in talk and texts. Also how social identities are created using cultural discourses. It analysis depression through discourse, resources and processes in conversations, interviews and ethnomethodology. It examines what people say and how they say it and what cultural resources
...y. The doctors could also prescribe varied treatment to different groups of patients who have distinct symptoms. Third, since patients in the same group tended to have similar interests, they could build friendship after communicating with each other every day. Therefore, they would ease stress and achieve happiness, creating a better condition for their convalescence. All of the above reasons manifest the importance of classification in the moral treatment.
A person that is suffering with the question to end his or her life, must have a deontological approach when making the final decision. A patient that is considering physician assisted suicide has considered the moral and obligational duties that come with the procedure. The person receiving care must think of his or her caretaker because ultimately they are the ones that endures the burden everyday of care. In the documentary, “The Suicide Tourist”, the husband spoke about the burden of feeling like he was punishing his wife for his disease. According to the deontological theory, the man felt as if it was morally wrong to continue living and feeling the way he did (Zaristky,
In this regard, the paper will be bridging the mind-body divide and explain the relation of the body, by ascertaining that the body of the patient that is suffering from chronic illness is communicating both to the person and the world that
...ceutical productions which define the pathology itself. In support of the idea that depression expresses a reduced capacity to interact with the environment rather than an abnormality based around an unidentifiable measurement of “chemical balance,” I will argue that the way in which pharmaceutical drugs standardize chemical deviance and treat mental illness like a biological disease disregards the normative component of depressive illnesses which must be considered as a response in one way or another to the environment in which they are experienced by each patient. By thinking about antidepressants not as correctional of a biological pathology but as a form of adaptation, I hope to show how their use must be considered in relation to values which combine scientific, social and experiential components that cannot be explained by scientific means alone.
In terms of what is looked for in the Biomedical model, it is believed that there is one aetiology of the disease or illness exhibited in the patient who is then treated as a passive host of the illness where only the medical technology provided by the medical practitioner can hope to cure or at least care for the patient. While at one point in time this method of treatment seemed apt due to the knowledge of the world of that period, it is not a holistic approach of intervention because the main thought behind this model, as discussed by G. L. Engel (1977:129), is that because a disease or illness is characterized by “somatic parameters, physicians need not be concerned with psychosocial issues which lie outside medicine’s responsibility and authority.” This implies that following the Biomedical model, medical practitioners do not take into account the living situations, economic standpoints, racial, gender and ethical viewpoints or the community involvement factor of the patient seeking help.
Depression is a state characterized by a sad mood and loss of interest in one’s usual activities with feelings of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, psychomotor agitation or retardation and trouble concentrating. (Nolen-Hoeksema, & Rector, 2011, p.297) Depression is a common major health problem that significantly affects the patient as well as generating extensive costs for the society. (Johansson, Nyblom, Carlbring, Cuijpers & Andersson, 2013) Thus, it is really important that this illness can get treated with the right therapies to minimize the negative impacts on the individual’s quality of life. Psychodynamic treatments are developed from Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis which formulates t...
Kleinman, A. 1980. Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture: An Exploration of the Borderland between Anthropology, Medicine, and Psychiatry. University of California Press.
The “moral approach” to treatment of mental illnesses went through many cycles. After World War II during the French Revolution is when psychotherapy and changes to mental health started to advance. The changes in mental illness stemmed from changes in ideas of how hospitals should be ran and the treatment of patients. As stated in our text book by Palmon, Weikel and Borsos (2006) during the 1790s Philippe Pinel started to revolutionize the way his mental hospital was ran in Paris, France. Philippe Pinel’s major adjustments were during the French Revolution, which was a time of inspiration, governmental change and free thinking. This was possibly the motivation and idea shifts which helped change Pinel’s ideas and concern of the approach to
Depression is a mental health condition which is widely recognised as one of the most common conditions for which people seek and receive care. There are many specific nursing problems which are encompassed by the medical term “depression” and these include physical, cognitive and behavioural patterns. Successful treatments of depression are psychosocial interventions which aim to identify and challenge a depressed persons pessimistic attitudes and beliefs and which promote an individuals’ participation in rewarding activities in an attempt to reduce any negative behaviours. The aim of this essay is to identify specific nursing problems which are encompassed by the term “depression” and relate these to a patient whom the author had met whilst out on clinical placement who had been given a medical diagnosis of depression. It is also the aim of this essay to discuss different psychosocial interventions and how effective these are in assisting a patient in their road to recovery.
Depression is known worldwide. In European countries there are generally two ways of treatment: using antidepressants or psychotherapy. The systems differ from country to country. In United Kingdom general practitioner [GP] has a right to prescribe drugs, but in Germany only psychiatrist or neurologist can do it (Willsher et al., 2013). The psychotherapy is usually expensive treatment, but in Germany government offers five first sessions for free, whereas in Spain GP chooses to refer patient to mental healthcare system only in severe cases (Willsher et al., 2013).
anything that is pathological in the body or deviant behavior may be a product of a 'condition.' The 'condition' is the abnormal basis upon which illnesses become possible. It is suggested that degeneration is the major theoretical element of medicalization of the abnormal. The degenerate is someone who is a danger. The degenerate is someone who, at a...
The belief that the mind and body were separate, and that all diseases and disorders could be explained by science, founded this conceptual model (Sarafino, 2008). Ergo, this approach saw health care professionals focusing predominately on the physical processes and looked at biochemistry, pathology and other related fields to explain, diagnose and treat illness or disease (Wade, 2004). As a consequence, medical intervention was the primary method used to return the health of an individual to a pre-illness state ‘free from pain, disease or defect’ (Williams, 2016, p.1). However, this model did not take into account any of the external considerations that lead up to the development of certain health conditions. Nor did it consider that a person’s mind could play a role in becoming ill or getting well (Sarafino, 2008). (DOES THIS EXPLAIN IN BETTER
Throughout history, explanations for mental illness have been described as supernatural, psychological, and biological. Prior to the early Greek physicians, the supernatural model of mental illness prevailed. Early humans did not have science to explain natural events so magic, mysticism, and superstition were used as a substitution. They believed in animism, the idea that all of nature is alive, and anthropomorphism, the tendency to project human features onto nature. Reification was also a popular belief that assumed if you can think of something, it exists. Sympathetic magic was the idea that one can heal and individual by influencing an object that is similar or closely associated to them (Frazer, 1890/1963). Primitive healers would often imitate the patient's ailments and then model the recovery. Reification also lead to the bel...