Medicalization is the process by which non\u00e2\u20ac\u201cmedical problems, such as normal life events, become defined and treated as medical problems, usually as illnesses or disorders.<\/p>\n
For some time there has been growing concern that the medicalization of behavior is a principal driver of increased health care costs <\/a>in the mental health care industry. The medicalization of unhappiness<\/a>, for example, is a driver for the prescription of harmful antidepressant drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Peter Conrad, a sociologist at Brandeis University, and his team have published a recent paper in which they estimate the costs of medicalization [“Estimating the costs of medicalization<\/a>” Social Science & Medicine<\/em>, Volume 70, Issue 12, June 2010, Pages 1943-1947].<\/p>\n The paper estimates direct costs associated with twelve medicalized conditions (including ADHD, sadness, anxiety and behavioral disorders) in the U.S. at approximately $77 billion in 2005, which was 3.9% of the total domestic expenditures on health care. This amounts to about $256 per person for the current U.S. population of roughly 300 million.<\/p>\n Conrad is quoted as saying, “We spend more on these medicalized conditions than on cancer, heart disease, or public health.” [Science Daily<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n Certainly one of the primary culprits of mental health medicalization is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders<\/em> (DSM) which is currently being revised <\/a>to include even more medicalized behavioral disorders, for which more harmful drugs can be prescribed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The medicalization of behavior is a principal driver of increased health care costs. Continue reading