Provide an example of a condition that has been medicalized and one that has undergone demedicalization.

• A. ADHD as medicalized; homosexuality demedicalized in DSM-III (1973).
• B. ADHD demedicalized; homosexuality medicalized.
• C. Diabetes fully medicalized and obesity demedicalized.
• D. Depression demedicalized and schizophrenia medicalized.

Answer: (A)

Medicalization and demedicalization describe how society frames conditions as medical problems or removes that medical framing. ADHD is a clear example of medicalization because it has defined diagnostic criteria, is recognized as a neurodevelopmental disorder, and is commonly treated with medical interventions such as medications and structured therapies. Homosexuality is a classic case of demedicalization, having been removed from the list of mental disorders in the era around 1973, which shifted the view away from seeing sexual orientation as a medical illness toward recognizing it as a normal variation and focusing on social and rights-based understandings. The other options mix shifts that don’t align with these well-established historical moves, like treating obesity as fully demedicalized or depression/sh schizophrenia as undergoing opposite or unrelated changes.