Public Anthropology in Medicalization - Essay Example

Public Anthropology in Medicalization Introduction Anthropology is the study of people’s lives from the past to the present. It seeks information or knowledge on people’s way of life and applies it to solve problems related to them. Researchers also apply anthropology in other fields, apart from culture, to understand issues related to those fields. These fields include among others, humanities and physical sciences, and social and biological sciences. Medicalization refers to medical attention given to individuals as a remedy for health problems, and the process through which physicians define a condition as one in need of medical attention (Adele et al, 2011). Applying anthropology to medicalization helps identify the past and present medicalization progresses. This work gives an overview of contemporary public anthropology on medicalization. Medicalization is a process that largely relies on a society’s cultural and social practices. The way people get sick and the choices they make regarding their treatment also relies on these practices, and differs within various cultures existing in a society. The way people in ancient days responded to medicalization differs compared to current medicalization processes due to advancements in medical technology, inter-professional or organizational contests or social movements and interest groups. Causes of diseases or illnesses differ according to culture, in that what one culture takes as a cause may not be a cause in another culture. Likewise, treatment methods among these cultures also differ because they have different beliefs about the ability of a particular medicine to heal a disease. Traditional beliefs on methods used in treating diseases differ from current practices (Bell & Figert, 2012). For example, traditional people believed on use of healing plants to treat their illnesses as opposed to today where people rely on manufactured drugs to for treatment of diseases, although there are some who still believe in herbal medicine. Many changes have occurred in the medicalization field. There is an expanding practice on medicalization, which has led to these changes (Nye, 2003). Research also presents the impact of social forces on medicalization and the effect it brings to people’s social lives. These forces have impacted on people’s lives such that illnesses that people considered normal and treated them without medicine have now gone on the line of being given medical attention. These according to Brandeis University (2010) include conditions like menopause, normal infertility in pregnancy, and erectile dysfunction, among others. Studies show a rising trend in medicalization of human conditions due to increased diagnosis and treatment given for normal life events and behavioral problems (Brandeis University 2010). Medicalization seems to be on the rise from two decades ago. This according to studies may have resulted from first, the power and authority of medical profession’s dominance, physician entrepreneurship or medical colonization (Conrad, 2005). Cultural and professional influence also contributed a lot to the rise in medicalization. There were also expansions on jurisdiction regarding medicines, which too contributed to this rise. Conditions affected by these changes included childbirth, menopause, hyperactivity, and child abuse, among others. Secondly, social movements and interest groups’ activities contributed a lot to medicalization. This happened because medical practitioners used these groups to praise a certain medical definition of a problem or promote the efficiency of a medical diagnosis (Conrad, 2005). Thirdly, other contributors to medicalization included innovations and marketing of pharmaceuticals, which brought medicalization on hyperactivity and menopause. Introduction of health insurance to pay for surgeries for obesity, or gender dysphoria, and medical treatment for alcoholism also played a part in this change. Changes in medicalization Later in the following decades, concern on medicine changed from the need to access medicine with the need to cut costs (Nye, 2003). This is because of the high costs associated with medicalization. As opposed to earlier days when physicians acted with dominance and sovereignty on patients, they began to see patients as customers as they seek medical insurance policies and medical services (Conrad, 2005). Likewise, pharmaceutical industries and physicians regarded patients as consumers and potential markets. During this period also, pharmaceutical industries became some of the most beneficial companies with innovations on new drugs that influenced medicalization to a larger extent. As Conrad concludes, these changes had a huge impact on medical knowledge, health care organization, and brought a new medicine world. Effects of these changes on medicalization The current state of medicalization differs from the past as studies show and intensification and transformation in medicalization. These changes according to studies result from the various aspects associated with medicalization: Biotechnology Technological advancements in biotechnology have a wide impact on medicalization. These include technology on production instruments used on administering treatment to patients and advancements in pharmaceutical industries (Conrad, 2005). Pharmaceutical industries promote their products for treatment of the different ills among patients. Companies manufacturing these products used physicians to reach patients who are their consumers. However, nowadays manufacturers advertise their products directly to the public, a situation that contributes to the rapid growth of medicalization. The direct-to-consumer advertisement results from passage of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (Conrad 2005). The regulation gave authority for use and promotion of drugs and enhanced direct advertisements to consumers over the television. Pharmaceutical industries can now advertise to the public and market their products. After the Act gave freedom to industries on advertisements, the Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra as a treatment for erectile dysfunction among the elderly men. Although, erectile dysfunction is a normal body condition with the elderly men, introduction of Viagra led to its use as a medicine to treat erectile problems (Adele et al, 2011). This resulted from an advertising erectile problem as a medical problem. Medicalization of erectile dysfunction and sexual problems has risen according to studies, and it does not portray signs of decreasing. Manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industries have also other normal conditions in the category of diseases that require medical attention by advertising the conditions and a drug remedy for them. For example, an advertisement of Prozac as an anti-depressant has led to using the drug for treatment of depression. The introduction of drugs like these caused a noticeable change in the pharmaceutical industry, which consequently affected medicalization. Advertising normal body conditions as diseases and providing a solution to it affect the previous knowledge that people have regarding the condition and its mode of treatment, and introduces them to new treatment methods which impact on the current medicalization. Genetics and Enhancement Several diseases have been genetic, for example diabetes, however; physicians have devised treatment processes for these diseases. Obesity, for example is a health problem in the society that physicians have found ways of treating it. They prescribe certain diets and exercise as treatment for diabetes, and studies foresee further treatment approaches to the problem (Conrad, 2005). Baldness or loss of hair is also a genetic condition, but physicians practice hair transplant as its remedy. This shows a new advancement in treating hair loss, and this will see the condition of baldness becoming a medical disorder in the future that requires medical attention. There are hormones that facilitate human growth, and their deficiency contributes to social problems. For instance, short people are said to encounter social problems among them stigmatization, which makes their parents’ concern over them take them for treatment on growth hormones. Although people understand this as a genetic condition, they still want to seek medicalization. This changes the belief people have on the condition and affects the behavior of the public on medicalization. Consumers Health care consumers contribute a lot of the change in medicalization (Ballard & Elston, 2005). This is because all the advancements made by physicians to even treating normal body conditions aim at serving them. Consumers choose on which insurance plans to engage in, the health care plans they purchase from the market, and the institutions they attend for the services. Taking as an example, cosmetic surgery is a treatment offered to patients for body shape disorders, and they spend a lot of finances looking for the treatment. Breast surgery, for instance will make surgeons advertise breast augmentation because consumers need it. Medicalization on body shape relies on availability of consumers in the market for its progress; thus consumers also play a major role in increasing medicalization. Conclusion The increase in medicalization changes from medical profession, social movements, and interest groups to biotechnology and consumers, among others. However, the current growth in medicalization is a result of increased market and commercial interests rather than profession (Conrad 2005). According to studies, people have developed a culture of taking normal body conditions and genetic conditions that do not require medical attention to be medical problems (Brandeis University 2010). This in return increases medicalization in the society as pharmaceutical industries advertise normal body conditions as medical problems luring patients to use the industries’ medical prescriptions for treatment of their conditions. Changes in technology on biomedical industries contribute a lot on the society’s norms and social lives. When new innovations in drugs prop up in the market, it lures patients to try the new inventions to solve normal body conditions, and this brings changes on the society’s belief regarding medicalization practices. According to the studies above, people have changed their behaviors on medication of the various health problems that they face. However much expensive the treatment processes, patients run to them because the advertisers prove them as efficient for treatment (Ballard & Elston, 2005). Bibliography Adele, E. et al (2011). Biomedicalization: Technoscience, Health, and Illness in the U. S. Retrieved on December 9, 2013, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/661028 Ballard, K. & Elston M. A. (2005). Medicalization: A Multi-dimensional Concept. Retrieved on December 9, 2013 from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/sth/journal/v3/n3/abs/8700053a.html Bell, S. E & Figert, A. E. (2012).Medicalization and pharmaceuticalization at the intersections: Looking backwards, sideways and forward. Retrieved on December 9, 2013, from http://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/s/sbell/pdf/bell-and-figert-medicalization-and-pharmaceuticalization-at-the-intersections-ssm-2012.pdf Brandeis University. (2010). Medicalizing human conditions: A growth industry -- but what does it cost?. Science Daily. Retrieved on December 9, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517152536.htm Conrad, P. (2005). The Shifting of Medicalization. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2005, Vol 46 (March): 3-14 Retrieved on December 9, 2013, from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4147650?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmedicalization%2BHISTORY%26amp%3Bprq%3Dmedicalization%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Doff%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bracc%3Doff&Search=yes&searchText=medicalization&searchText=HISTORY&uid=3738336&uid=2134&uid=2477416533&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=2477416523&uid=60&sid=21103171505643 Nye, R. A. (2003). The Evolution of the Concept of Medicalization in the late twentieth century. Retrieved on December 9, 2013 from http://www.pageout.net/user/www/m/i/mitchellberman/history%20readings/history%20of%20medicalization.pdf Read More