Taking melatonin for jet lag or taking Adderall for focus. 

Arizona State University

Pharmaceuticalization is the process by which human conditions, behaviors, or capacities are treated or enhanced through pharmaceutical drugs, regardless of whether they are medically classified as illnesses. It does not require that something be fully medicalized first, and is largely driven by heavy drug marketing, consumer demand, and commercial interests. 

Pharmaceuticalization

Coveney, Rachel, Simon J. Williams, and Jonathan Gabe. "Medicalisation, Pharmaceuticalisation or Both? Exploring the Medical Management of Sleeplessness as Insomnia." Sociology of Health & Illness, vol. 41, no. 1, 2019, pp. 31–49. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12820.


Medicalisation, Pharmaceuticalisation, and the Sleep Problematisation of Older Age in the UK Reference

Examples of Pharmaceuticalization

Pharmaceuticalization can extend the reach of drugs into areas of life that were previously considered normal or outside medical concern- raising ethical and public health questions. 

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