Why Medicalization Sucks

October 25, 2020 Health & Healing No Comments

Medicalization is the untoward appropriation of an issue by the medical field as if from now on, it’s part of the physician’s job description to manage this issue.

From a satellite view, one can see that humanity wants to get rid of disease. Each culture considers health as one of the highest goods. So we all strive for it. We wish each other good health.

The West is no exception in this.

But what is health?

It used to be seen as ‘the absence of disease,’ but that is insufficient. [see: “What is Health?“]

Most relevant for now is to note that the concept is relative. Different cultures have different ideas. Even different individuals may greatly differ, explicitly or implicitly (without giving it much thought).

Whatever it is, basically, striving for it is possible in two directions.

Say: something causes symptoms.

You want to get rid of the symptoms. You can do so by 1) attacking the symptoms or by 2) relieving the cause, or even the cause of the cause.

Is this common sense to you?

These are two very different ways with different goals and results. Even though it may not be readily apparent, Western curative medicine is very much into the game of attacking symptoms. Especially as to medication, it’s a symptomatic medicine.

In the domain of psychosomatics, Western medicine doesn’t see its job lying in any mentally causal undertaking. Aspiring physicians hardly get any profound education in such causality.

So we are left with cosmetics. Psychosomatic symptoms are not respected. Unfortunately, this way, people – in their presence as total persons – are not respected.

The importance to medicalization

This way, many human issues are getting drawn into this arena in which profundity is cut short. The issues may disappear – out of sight, not out of body and soul – and life may go on.

But if the person (patient) doesn’t take own responsibility, it is a lesser life, not a fuller life. Of course, this is the case for many people. What makes it even harder for them to take proper responsibility is precisely the idea of being taken care of. This thwarts the patient’s looking for more in-depth solutions. It diminishes his openness towards the more causal ‘second road.’

Straightforwardly, it leads to more inner dissociation. [see: “Inner Dissociation is NEVER OK!“]

Therefore, medicalization sucks.

As a matter of fact, this is not sustainable.

Although not at first sight therefore, the more sustainable way is almost always rather the causal one than the cosmetic one. [see: “Sustainability From Inside Out“] For general sustainability, either the cause disappears by itself, or there should be proper support in its not being needed anymore.

Especially in medicine.

Why is there so much medicalization?

In the first place, it’s easy. One doesn’t need to confront oneself with perhaps some inconvenient truths at the core of one’s being.

Besides that, whole industries have emerged whose existence depends on keeping the status quo or even enhancing medicalization. Patient and system find each other in the endeavor.

Still, eventually, it doesn’t work for the benefit of individuals nor society.