The Promotion of Medications for Personal and Social Problems

Abstract

The issue of promoting medications for personal or social problems involves a difficult balance between medical definitions of what constitutes a disease and consumers' perceptions of what they want or need in the way of optimal health and well-being. There are certain symptom states and conditions that are poorly defined in terms of the biomedical model of disease. Other conditions, such as child abuse, ordinary stress and tension (“pressures of life”), small breasts, thinning hair, mental fatigue, and certain personal and social problems of life are often considered diseases by some (e.g., afflicted consumers, health product manufacturers and promoters), but not by others (e.g., health professionals, health insurance companies). The key concern is who determines what conditions are diseases to be addressed by medical care systems and public health efforts, and what conditions are problems and concerns better addressed by the family unit, social welfare agencies, religious groups, or society in general.