From Mood To Disease:A Social Construction Study Of Medicalization Of Depressive Mood In Women

With advances in medical technology,physiological and emotional experiences that were previously outside the realm of medicine are now being incorporated into it.This has led to the phenomenon of modern medicine creating,defining,and diagnosing diseases under the guise of "science".This article takes "depression" as a starting point and focuses on young women entering the workforce.Eighteen women aged between 20 and 30 were interviewed by semi-structured interview method.This paper analyzes the social background that leads to these women experiencing depressive mood and how the medicalization process from moods to illness is constructed.First,the social background of depression for women entering the workplace includes role confusion from transitioning from school to the workplace,the double pressures of family and work,and emotional deprivation in urban life.Secondly,the process of medicalization of depressive mood is completed through the joint efforts of individuals,mass media,and the medical field.Specifically,individuals actively participate in the construction process of medicalization through their own psychological and physical perception,interpretation of past experiences and reactions to current emotions.Individuals are passively drawn into the medicalization process through mass media and the medical field.Mass media continuously promotes depressive mood as a disease and provides self-diagnosis questionnaires to construct depressive mood as a disease.In the medical field,depressive mood is included in the medical discourse system by displaying diagnostic criteria and drug treatment.Finally,this article reflects on the medicalization process.It points out that the medicalization of depressive mood generates "manufactured" patients,individualizes social problems,and leads to a low tolerance for depressive mood,which can have negative effects on individuals and society.While not denying the need for medical treatment for severe depression,this article discusses how depressive mood is constructed as a disease and enriches the theoretical research on medicalization.By listening to the voices of women and paying attention to women’s mental health,this article aims to help young women entering the workforce to view medical technology rationally,accept their depressive mood,and reshape the meaning of life.Based on the exploration of the medicalization process of depressive mood among young women entering the workforce,this article emphasizes the importance of paying attention to potential psychological problems in the post-pandemic era,calls for increased attention to mental health,and warns against the problems of excessive medicalization.