The term medicalization refers to the process through which a previously nonmedical issue newly becomes conceived of as a medical one. The aim of this thesis is to show how the utilization of this concept can help lead to a better understanding of the contemporary phenomenon of mass antidepressant consumption. I attempt to demonstrate here that the rise in antidepressant use, which has been occurring worldwide in the last few decades, must be understood as the result of a host of factors, among which a key role is played by changes in the conception of certain emotional states, previously understood as normal, as symptoms of mental illness. Aside from a general analysis of the factors that contribute to the consumption of these medications, the thesis also contains my own case study of one of them, namely the ways in which antidepressants are portrayed by the media. I focus on articles, published between the years 1996 and 2016 in Czech national newspapers and attempt to show how discussions about antidepressants, despite their relative neutrality, by accenting a medicalized frame of understanding mental problems help to create an environment, which supports their consumption.

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Ce mémoire de maitrise constitue une proposition théorique dans le cadre de laquelle je propose une conceptualisation de la construction sociale du trouble déficitaire de l’attention (TDAH) et son traitement par médication psychostimulante, en s’intéressant au processus diagnostique et aux interactions qu’il implique entre les membres de l’écologie scolaire (enseignants, professionnels, élèves, parents, gestionnaires, formateurs), mais aussi entre ces derniers et ceux du domaine médical (médecin généraliste, pédopsychiatre ou psychiatre, pédiatre, psychologue, neurologue). En brossant un portrait exhaustif des connaissances sociales et scientifiques sur ce qu’on nomme communément le TDAH, je présente comment il y a eu redéfinition sociale d’un trouble scolaire en trouble médical, c’est-à-dire comment il y a eu une médicalisation des difficultés scolaires. Cette médicalisation ayant socialement cheminé vers une pharmaceuticalisation de cette non-conformité aux normes scolaires, alors que le traitement par médication psychostimulante est devenu une solution de plus en plus légitime pour plusieurs élèves d’ordre primaire au cours des dernières décennies. Cependant, même si mémoire ne vise pas à nier l’existence d’un tel trouble neurologique, de nombreux facteurs permettent d’observer que des processus sociaux peuvent influencer les taux diagnostiques et les taux de traitement par médication, alors qu’il y a raisons de croire que le Québec est en situation de surdiagnostics et de surprescriptions, principalement chez la population des élèves d’ordre primaire. Suivant cette perspective, ce mémoire propose une conceptualisation sociologique inédite qui pourrait permettre de mieux comprendre comment ces deux phénomènes sont le résultat d’une construction sociale par des processus sociaux. Une conceptualisation qui propose autant d’aborder et d’analyser le TDAH d’un point de vue macrosocial que d’un point de vue microsocial. / This master's thesis constitutes a theoretical proposal in which I propose a conceptualization to understand the social construction of ADHD and its treatment with psychostimulant medication, focusing on the diagnostic process and the interactions it involves between members of the school ecology (teachers, professionals, students, parents, managers, trainers), but also between those and those of the medical field (general practitioner, child psychiatrist or psychiatrist, pediatrician, psychologist, neurologist). By providing a comprehensive picture of social and scientific knowledge of what is commonly referred to as ADHD, I present how a school disorder has been socially redefined in a medical disorder, i.e. how academic difficulties have been medicalized. This medicalization has made a social path to pharmaceuticalizing this non-compliance with school standards, while psychostimulant medication treatment has become an increasingly legitimate solution for many primary students in recent decades. However, while memory is not intended to deny the existence of such a neurological disorder, there are many factors that can be observed by social processes that can influence diagnostic rates and rates of medication treatment, while there is reason to believe that Quebec is in a situation of overdiagnosis and overprescription, mainly among the primary student population. From this perspective, this dissertation proposes a new sociological conceptualization that could allow us to better understand how these two phenomena are the result of social construction from social processes. A conceptualization that proposes as much to address and analyze ADHD from a macrosocial point of view as from a microsocial point of view.