Medicalization is a social process, which based on the biomedical model of disease, one that sees behaviors, conditions, or illnesses “as a direct result of malfunctions within the human body” and requiring biomedical oversight in Western culture. It changes ones understanding of a specific condition from a variant upon human social nature to a deviation from normal biological functioning, something that can be treated through the use of biomedicine. Medicalization is studied from a sociologic perspective in terms of the role and power of professionals, patients, and corporations, and also for its implications for ordinary people whose self-identity and life decisions may depend on the prevailing concepts of health and illness.
Medicalization
