DEMEDICATING LIFE – A CRITICAL LOOK AT PSYCHIC ILLNESSES, PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES AND THE EXPANSION OF MEDICALIZATION IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The increase in the consumption of anxiolytics in Brazil reflects a broader phenomenon of medicalization of psychic suffering, in which everyday emotional states are transformed into psychiatric diagnoses and treated predominantly by means of drugs. In view of this reality, we ask: to what extent do the expansion of psychiatric diagnoses and the medicalization of life impact the understanding and treatment of psychic suffering in Brazil? Studies point to a "diagnostic epidemic", characterized by the exponential growth in the classification of mental disorders and their treatment with psychotropic medications. Theoretically, the research is based on the contributions of Illich (1975), Aguiar (2004), Caponi (2012), Dunker (2015), Freitas and Amarante (2017), among others. Methodologically, a qualitative approach was adopted, based on Minayo (2001), of a bibliographic nature, according to Gil (2008), and structured by a comprehensive analysis, according to Weber (1991). The findings reveal that biological psychiatry has been consolidated as the main approach to dealing with mental suffering, being strongly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. The medicalization of children, for example, illustrates how behaviors previously considered part of the child's normal development began to be pathologized and treated with psychotropic drugs. The research concludes that the medicalization of life has generated significant social impacts, such as the growing dependence on anxiolytics and antidepressants for daily functioning, the decrease in clinical listening and the replacement of psychosocial approaches by immediate pharmacological solutions. The study highlights the need to rethink the current psychiatric model, promoting practices that recognize suffering as an inherent dimension of the human experience, and not just as a problem to be medicalized.