What term describes the process of reframing deviant drinking as a medical problem?

What term describes the process of reframing deviant drinking as a medical problem?

• A. Demedicalization
• B. Medicalization
• C. Normalization
• D. Deinstitutionalization

Answer: (B)

Medicalization is the process of taking a behavior that may be viewed as deviant or problematic and reframing it within a medical framework, treating it as a health issue that requires medical diagnosis, management, and treatment. When deviant drinking is medicalized, it’s seen as an alcohol use disorder or dependent drinking, not as a moral failing or personal weakness, and it invites clinical approaches such as diagnosis by criteria, treatment plans, medications, and professional care. The other terms don’t capture this shift: demedicalization would remove the medical interpretation and view the behavior as non-medical or moral; normalization would regard the behavior as common or acceptable; deinstitutionalization refers to moving care away from large institutions rather than changing how the problem is framed medically.

Medicalization is the process of taking a behavior that may be viewed as deviant or problematic and reframing it within a medical framework, treating it as a health issue that requires medical diagnosis, management, and treatment. When deviant drinking is medicalized, it’s seen as an alcohol use disorder or dependent drinking, not as a moral failing or personal weakness, and it invites clinical approaches such as diagnosis by criteria, treatment plans, medications, and professional care. The other terms don’t capture this shift: demedicalization would remove the medical interpretation and view the behavior as non-medical or moral; normalization would regard the behavior as common or acceptable; deinstitutionalization refers to moving care away from large institutions rather than changing how the problem is framed medically.