verb
- treating or managing a condition, behavior, or social problem as a medical issue requiring medical intervention
Usage: present participle of medicalize; often used critically to describe the tendency to apply medical frameworks to non-medical phenomena
Examples
- Critics argue that medicalising childhood shyness has led to overdiagnosis of social anxiety disorder.
- The practice of medicalising normal aging has drawn scrutiny from public health experts.
- Some educators worry about medicalising learning differences rather than adapting teaching methods.
- Medicalising grief after a loss can prevent people from processing emotions naturally.
- The pharmaceutical industry has been accused of medicalising everyday stress and fatigue.
- Medicalising poverty ignores the social and economic factors that affect health outcomes.