Medicalização no ambiente escolar

Abstract

Medicalization is a growing process of transforming non-medical issues into medical problems. Problems of different types are being presented as diseases, disorders, or even disturbances, permeating political, social, cultural, emotional, and learning-related issues, affecting people's lives in many ways. In the school environment, different situations allow the issue of medicalization to arise, leading to the question of whether the increasing classification of diseases affects learning. This paper investigates the most recent scientific contributions focused on the influence of child medicalization on school learning, considering the general context of Brazilian basic education. The aim is to analyze the mechanisms that lead learning difficulties to be frequently treated as disorders, both by doctors and teachers, parents and other family members and friends, and even by the children themselves. The diagnosis based on the report of symptoms, which often imposes a sentence, is discussed. This is a bibliographical research with a descriptive approach, based on data published in journals, dissertations, and theses from the last decade, through which it was possible to verify the increasing labeling of children within spectrums or disorders without performing detailed exams and long-term monitoring, so that weaknesses and gaps are supported by diagnostic accuracy to avoid mistakes and erroneously popularize the practice of medicalization. In this scope, it is believed that the work presented here brings contributions to teachers in the sense of reflection on the subject and constant search for updates for their educational praxis.