Medicamentalization, transhumanist discourses, and their demands under capitalism: A literature review

Roberto Henrique Amorim de Medeiros; Vladimir Frediani Jardim

doi:10.5020/23590777.rs.v25i3.e17227

Authors

Roberto Henrique Amorim de Medeiros Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8224-9755
Vladimir Frediani Jardim Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7572-3015

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5020/23590777.rs.v25i3.e17227

Keywords:

medicamentalization, transhumanism, capitalist discourse

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the process of medicamentalization in mental health through exploratory and descriptive research aimed at addressing the relationship between medicamentalization and contemporary transhumanism, purportedly shaped by capitalist discourse. The study was developed through a narrative literature review on the transhumanist paradigm, contemporary capitalist ideals, and psychopharmacology. The growing role of psychopharmacology as the primary treatment in mental health appears to suggest a relationship with transhumanist discourse in the context of the demands of capitalist society. This connection enabled analyses of psychotropic drugs as technological tools for achieving the ideal of the machine-like transhuman. Furthermore, the critical analytical examination of the articles included in the review identified the concept of wish-fulfilling medicine as an illustrative example. Accordingly, this practice is presented and discussed as one that links the notion of the transhuman individual with clinical practices that offer to fulfill desires for the “enhancement” of bodies, according to a supposedly idealized desire embedded in culture.

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Translation

This article is a translation in English of the article: Medicamentalização, Discursos Transhumanos e suas Demandas no Capitalismo: Uma Revisão de Literatura

Author Biographies

Roberto Henrique Amorim de Medeiros, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Holds a degree in Psychology from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, 1996), a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (2000), and a PhD in Education from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (2011). He has experience in psychoanalytic clinical practice, including patient care and supervision; in health care delivery and management within Primary Health Care at the Community Health Service of Conceição Hospital Group (2003-2013); and in the training of health professionals through the Integrated Health Residency/GHC, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (2004-2013).

Vladimir Frediani Jardim, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Undergraduate student in Psychology at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) since the first semester of 2016. He currently works as a therapist and intern in the Clinical Processes emphasis area at the Psychological Services Clinic of UFRGS and is an undergraduate research fellow in the project “The Passion for the Automaton, Posthumanism, and Psychoanalysis: Readings on Clinical Practice and the Social Bond.”

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