psicologização e medicalização

The related notion of medicalisation has historically received much more interest than psychologisation, probably because of the much longer history of medicine as a science and profession. Medicalisation means that more sick people receive help, at the same time as more healthy people are perceived as sick (Lian, 2006). Arthur Barsky (1988) calls this the paradox of health: the more disease we can cure, the unhealthier the population becomes. The same critical concern applies to psychologisation apropos well-being: more people get help, at the same time as psychological diagnoses, such as depression and anxiety, become ever more common. As we increasingly come to talk about life issues and problems in psychological terms, the more depressed and anxious the population becomes. Of course, it is no simple matter to decide if the psychologisation of society can be said to cause a happier or unhappier population; indeed, this in itself is a question that may reflect a psychologised society.