Medicalization and Mental Health: The Role of Psychotropic Drugs in Psychological Suffering
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64747/4wfywd19Keywords:
Psychotropic drugs, Medicalization, Mental suffering, Psychiatry, NarrativesAbstract
The expansion of diagnostic categories and pharmacological responses has transformed how societies interpret and address psychological suffering. This critical narrative review aimed to analyze the role of psychotropic drugs within mental-health medicalization processes while distinguishing clinically justified use from overmedicalization. Academic publications indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE and SciELO, official documents from the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, and verified DOI records were consulted. Priority was given to systematic reviews, meta-analyses, guidelines, and Latin American studies published up to August 2026. The synthesis showed that antidepressants and antipsychotics may provide meaningful benefits for specific indications, although average effectiveness, tolerability, and acceptability vary across individuals and contexts. Risks were also identified, including adverse effects, prolonged treatment without sufficient review, discontinuation symptoms, and limited participation in treatment decisions. Evidence on social determinants and community care indicated that reducing distress to an individual disorder may obscure poverty, violence, precarious employment, discrimination, and biographical trajectories. The review concludes that the central problem is not the existence of psychotropic medicines, but their automatic, exclusive, or decontextualized use. A balanced practice requires careful diagnostic assessment, informed consent, shared decision-making, monitoring of benefits and harms, access to psychological and social interventions, and rights-based community services.
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