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Glite Dictionary
medicalization

medicalization

1 7.0
Treating normal life events or behavior as health problems that need care
  • noun
  • /ˌmɛdɪkəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/
  • Specialized
: medicalización
  • The increased influence of medicine in the classroom can be seen as part of the medicalization of education.
  • the medicalization of deviance
  • the medicalization of sadness
  • the medicalization of life

What I am not in agreement with is this push to rapid medicalization of children.

Examples

  • Medicalization also raises other worrisome questions that hinge on the temporality of scientific findings.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The medicalization of behavioral issues has sparked debates among educators and parents about appropriate interventions.

  • What I am not in agreement with is this push to rapid medicalization of children.

    Triggernometry

  • Policy advocates for medicalization have focused primarily on marijuana.

    Academic text (2009)

  • During the era of medicalization, it was rare to see conditions demedicalized.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The medicalization of sadness achieved a social impact far beyond the narrow domain of clinical psychiatric diagnosis.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The medicalization of sadness in psychiatric diagnoses has had broader cultural consequences.

    Academic text (2005)

  • To avoid the total medicalization of women's sexuality, they preferred the term "sexual problems" to "sexual dysfunction."

    Academic text (2006)

  • One could say that this is the medicalization of girls' survival strategies, the sibling of criminalization techniques.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Conrad (1975) refers to the diagnosis and subsequent medication of ADHD behaviors as the medicalization of deviant behavior.

    Academic text (2000)

Surface Forms

medicalization singular
medicalizations plural

Morphology

medicalization = medicalize (transparent) = medical + ize + ation

Standard verb formation from 'medical' with '-ize' and nominalization with '-ation', so the meaning as a process of making or treating as medical is directly derivable.

Etymology

Medicalization blends medical (from an old word about 'doctor' and 'healing') with -ize ('to make') and -ation ('the process'). So medicalization is the process of 'making' something medical, which is why it means treating behaviours or life events as medical issues that may need treatment.