On good and bad forms of medicalization

Bioethics

Volumn 27, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 28-35

  Parens, Erik ^a  

^a HASTINGS CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Bioethics; Enhancement; Medicalization; Normalization

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; DRUG THERAPY; ETHICS; HUMAN; MEDICALIZATION; MORALITY; SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY;

DRUG THERAPY; ETHICAL ANALYSIS; HUMANS; MEDICALIZATION; MORALS; SOCIAL VALUES;

EID: 84870746856     PISSN: 02699702     EISSN: 14678519     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2011.01885.x     Document Type: Article

References (29)

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2. L. Purdy. Medicalization, Medical Necessity, and Feminist Medicine. Bioethics 2001; 15(3): 248-261
3. P. Conrad. 2007. The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press: 3-4.
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5. M. Henry, J.R. Fishman & S.J. Younger. Propranolol and the Prevention of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Is It Wrong to Erase the 'Sting' of Bad Memories? Am J Bioeth 2007; 7(9): 12-20
6. A.V. Horwitz & J.C. Wakefield. 2007. The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
7. C. Lane. 2007. Shyness: How a Normal Behavior Became a Sickness. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
8. S. Cohen & C. Cosgrove. 2009. Normal at Any Cost: Tall Girls, Short Boys, and the Medial Industry's Quest to Manipulate Height. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.
9. C. Freedman. 1998. Aspirin for the Mind? Some Ethical Worries about Psychopharmacology. In Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Implications. E. Parens, ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
10. A. Dreger. 2004. One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
11. In its constitution, the World Health Organization famously defines health as a 'state of complete, physical, mental, and social well-being'.
12. J. Lehrer. 2010. Depression's Upside. New York Times Magazine 28 February: 42.
13. For a classic, explicit discussion: N. Daniels.Just Health Care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.1986
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16. G.L. Klerman. Psychotropic Hedonism vs. Pharmacological Calvinism. Hastings Cent Rep 1972; 2 (4): 1-3.
17. Joshua Wolf Shenk's account of how Abraham Lincoln's 'melancholia' was not just a huge burden, but also a crucial ingredient in his great life, is but one recent, very fine example of that tradition; see J.W. Shenk. 2005. Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. For an attempt to extirpate that tradition, see P Kramer. Against Depression. New York: Viking.2005
18. K. Morgan. 1998. Contested Bodies, Contested Knowledges: Women, Health and the Politics of Medicalization. In Agency, Autonomy, and Politics in Women's Health, Susan Sherwin, ed. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
19. J.R. Miklos & R.D. Moore. Labiaplasty of the Labia Minora: Patients' Indications for Pursuing Surgery. J Sex Med. 2008;5: 1492-1495
20. L. Purdy. Medicalization, Medical Necessity, and Feminist Medicine. Bioethics 2001;15(3): 248-261
21. K. Davis. 1995. Reshaping the Female Body: The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery. New York: Routledge; M. Lock. The Tempering of Medical Anthropology: Troubling Natural Categories. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 2001; 15(4): 478-492
22. J.Z. Sadler, F. Jotterand, S.C. Lee & S. Inrig. Can Medicalization Be Good? Situating Medicalization within Bioethics. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 2009; 30(6): 411-425.
23. For a fascinating variation on this theme, see E. Feder. Imperatives of Normality: From 'Intersex' to 'Disorders of Sex Development.'. GLQ 2009; 15(2): 225-247
24. In discussing people who have atypical-appearing genitalia due to a disorder of sex development, Feder argues that Foucault's understanding of the power of 'normalization' helps us to 'make sense of the history of medicalization and its pernicious effects'-and also allows us to see the 'positive possibilities' of going from viewing atypical genitalia as identity-constituting to viewing them as symptoms of a medical condition.
25. I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this example.
26. J. Evans. Bioethics and Medicalization. (Forthcoming).
27. President's Council on Bioethics.Beyond Therapy: Bioetechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness New York, NY, Regan Books: 253. This is of course a variation on Robert Nozick's famous 'experience machine' thought experiment in Anarchy, State, and Utopia.2003
28. J. Savulescu & A. Sandberg. Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals between Us. Neuroethics 2008; 1: 33-44.
29. S. Braun. 2001. Seeking Insight by Prescription. Cerebrum. 1 April. Available athttp://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=3046