Medicalization of elderly females and interaction with consumption of tranquilizers

Abstract

In this study we researched into the interaction between gender, aging and particularized consumption of tranquilizers (benzodiazepines), aiming to understand how, within the process of medicalization of society, this interaction interferes in the way of using and in conceptions about tranquilizers, and how they are (re)signified by their consumers. In the study, semi-structured interviews with 18 elderly females were performed and a qualitative approach was used in the analysis of the collected data. These women belonged to low-income classes in the city of Ribeirão Preto (state of São Paulo). They were psychiatric patients assisted in the public outpatient clinic of the Mental Health Nucleus of the Health Teaching Centre at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo (FMRP-USP). We observed that the consumption of tranquilizers is intensified among elderly females, as they begin to deal with conflicts and daily matters by using medications. As the elderly females have been attending the health services for several years, the psychiatric ones among them, they manage to incorporate knowledge and experiences about the use of tranquilizers, promoting their diffusion in the social circle.