| Precipitating pharmakologies and capital entrapments: narcolepsy and the strange cases of Provigil and Xyrem. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 19184754 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Since the mid-1990s, Americans have been made more aware of chronic sleep deprivation and sleep disorders exacerbated by dominant temporal regimes of work, school, and family life, primarily through increased medical and media attention. Concomitantly, Americans have turned to medical treatments and pharmaceutical cocktails to achieve normalcy rather than attending to the social and cultural causes of sleep sickness. This turn toward pharmaceuticalization is aided in part by the proliferation of medical disorders and the pharmaceuticals marketed to treat them (e.g., "excessive daytime sleepiness" requires treatment once reserved for narcoleptics). These cocktails have explicit and implicit components: the former consist of pharmaceuticals, the latter of capital dependencies, including ties to medical insurance companies, stable employment, and familial networks. In this article, I examine the proliferation of pharmaceutical cocktails through the concept of the pharmakon-something simultaneously remedy and cause-to illuminate the causes and effects of such pharmaceutical regimens in contemporary American society, specifically those relating to sleepiness. Specific cases of this struggle between chemical dependence and normalcy are offered from my ethnographic work with patients who suffer from sleep disorders. |
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Authors:
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Matthew Wolf-Meyer |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Medical anthropology Volume: 28 ISSN: 1545-5882 ISO Abbreviation: Med Anthropol Publication Date: 2009 Jan-Mar |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2009-02-02 Completed Date: 2009-07-29 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7707343 Medline TA: Med Anthropol Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 11-30 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. mwolfmey@ucsc.edu |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adjuvants, Anesthesia
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therapeutic use* Adult Advertising as Topic* Benzhydryl Compounds / therapeutic use* Central Nervous System Stimulants / therapeutic use* Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / drug therapy*, etiology Drug Industry / methods Drug Therapy, Combination Female Humans Interviews as Topic Male Middle Aged Narcolepsy / drug therapy, psychology Patient Acceptance of Health Care Persuasive Communication Sleep Deprivation / complications Sodium Oxybate / therapeutic use* Young Adult |
| Chemical | |
Reg. No./Substance:
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0/Adjuvants, Anesthesia; 0/Benzhydryl Compounds; 0/Central Nervous System Stimulants; 502-85-2/Sodium Oxybate; 68693-11-8/modafinil |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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