Resumen de Medicalização da vida e análise alínica do comportamento

Tiago Alfredo da Silva Ferreira, João Pedro Alves Matos, Mateus Mattos Souza, Sidarta da Silva Rodrigues

• English

  Medicalization of Life is a sociocultural phenomenon that is defined by turning inherently human experiences, into subjects of biomedical intervention. This investigation emerges from discussions regarding the nature of mental disorders, which, mostly in the 1960s, involved a critical view of reducing psychological suffering to its organic components, whether they are genetic, neuronal, etc., disregarding factors such as personal history and cultural variables. This critical stance regarding Medicalization has had a profound impact in the literature and the subject is currently discussed in various disciplines, such as pedagogy, philosophy and sociology.

  An idea that derived from this discussion is that the practice of medicalization is inherently bad. In the field of psychology, this debate brings up various positions, such as wanting to legitimate Medicalization for its utility or, in a different perspective, fight it for its alleged damaging effects. This paper discusses Medicalization of Life when it comes to the clinical behavior analysis and is guided by the following question: is it possible to consider a virtuous Medicalization of Life? Working with this idea, the present paper (1) presents a conceptual review of the concept of Medicalization of Life; (2) discusses a behavior-analytic perspective of Medicalization and (3) presents a critical reflection on the conditions under which behavior analysts might consider Medicalization of Life as a problem to be solved in psychotherapy. In the first section, we present a concept of Medicalization that describes contingencies beyond the normative classifications of psychopathological phenomena. The creation and validation of Medicalization demands in a context where technological interventions for the body are available is a central aspect of this concept. In the second section, we present the idea of bringing the body up to date, discussed by Skinner (1969), which offers a description of this central matter in behavior-analytic terms. In the third section, we give an example and a counterexample of the consequences of Medicalization in a clinical decision-making situation.

  We argue that moral reflection depends on whether we are clear about what the goals of specific behavior-analytic interventions are. Thus, the identification of such goals is a necessary condition for critical views of medicalizing practices to be justified and conclusions such as “virtuous” or “vicious” to make sense. The Medicalization phenomenon is pervasive to daily life and, among the different effects it has over contemporary subjectivity, the emergence of new clinical phenomena is one of particular interest to behavior analysts. Our conclusion is that, whether Medicalization is seen as virtuous or vicious as a comprehensive cultural practice, it will only be virtuous for behavior analysts when it leads to achieving goals in psychotherapy, which here are assumed to be a combination of psychological flexibility and self-knowledge.

• português

  Enquanto prática cultural, a Medicalização da Vida é um fenômeno amplo, significativo para as ciências da saúde e do comportamento, e pródigo em suscitar acirrados debates. A argumentação desenvolvida no presente artigo discute esta prática cultural no contexto da análise clínica do comportamento, tendo como norte a seguinte questão: é possível pensar em uma Medicalização da Vida virtuosa? Para tanto, este trabalho (1) faz um levantamento do desenvolvimento atual do conceito de Medicalização da Vida; (2) apresenta uma perspectiva analítico-comportamental da Medicalização e (3) apresenta uma reflexão crítica sobre os motivos pelos quais o analista do comportamento pode, ou não, considerar a Medicalização da Vida como um problema a ser enfrentado. Argumenta-se que a discussão normativa acerca da prática cultural da Medicalização da Vida no âmbito da análise clínica do comportamento depende, necessariamente, de uma clarificação acerca dos objetivos da prática clínica em questão.