Medicalisation by non-medical personnel in English literature.

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.