Medicalisation by non-medical personnel in English literature

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether English literature contains depictions of medicalisation by non-medical people. Method: English literature was examined by us and skilled readers. Results: We identified four examples: two from Macbeth and two from Vanity Fair. Not only were non-medical people the instigators, but in each publication there is one example of the advice of a medical professional (whom denied the existence of a medical problem) opinion being rejected. Conclusions: Evidence from the work of respected authors indicates that medicalisation was practiced long before it was described in the 1970s, that it may be instigated by non-medical people, and that it may continue after medical professionals deny the existence of medical problems.