The new holism: P4 systems medicine and the medicalization of health and life itself

Abstract

The emerging concept of systems medicine (or ‘P4 medicine’—predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory) is at the vanguard of the post-genomic movement towards ‘precision medicine’. It is the medical application of systems biology, the biological study of wholes. Of particular interest, P4 systems medicine is currently promised as a revolutionary new biomedical approach that is holistic rather than reductionist. This article analyzes its concept of holism, both with regard to methods and conceptualization of health and disease. Rather than representing a medical holism associated with basic humanistic ideas, we find a technoscientific holism resulting from altered technological and theoretical circumstances in biology. We argue that this holism, which is aimed at disease prevention and health optimization, points towards an expanded form of medicalization, which we call ‘holistic medicalization’: Each person’s whole life process is defined in biomedical, technoscientific terms as quantifiable and controllable and underlain a regime of medical control that is holistic in that it is all-encompassing. It is directed at all levels of functioning, from the molecular to the social, continual throughout life and aimed at managing the whole continuum from cure of disease to optimization of health. We argue that this medicalization is a very concrete materialization of a broader trend in medicine and society, which we call ‘the medicalization of health and life itself’. We explicate this holistic medicalization, discuss potential harms and conclude by calling for preventive measures aimed at avoiding eventual harmful effects of overmedicalization in systems medicine (quaternary prevention).

The P4 Health Spectrum – A Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory Continuum for Promoting Healthspan

“…One important issue is that early life adversity from poverty, abuse and neglect has long lasting influences on health and contributes disproportionately to the health care burden. 17 An approach in medicine that is preventive, predictive, personalized and participatory (P4) [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] holds great promise to reduce the burden of chronic diseases by harnessing technology and an increasingly better understanding of human interaction, evidence-based interventions and the underlying mechanisms of chronic diseases.…”

Psykiatrien – hvor står du, hvor går du?

“…En lite gjennomtenkt «helhetstilnaerming» kan også ha sine fallgruver det er verdt å vaere oppmerksom på. Overmedikalisering er én risiko (8).…”

Prioritering, styring og likebehandling: Utfordringer i norsk helsetjeneste

“…Bruk av stordata og maskinlaeringsteknologi på eksisterende helsedata vil samtidig identifisere og «validere» markører for sykdom. Jeg har sammen med gode kollegaer drøftet denne problemstillingen mer i detalj andre steder (Vogt, Hofmann & Getz, 2016a, 2016b. Poenget her er at institusjonene kanskje ikke er eslet til å håndtere vurderingen av fremtidens teknologi, men dette må uvegerlig bli spekulativt all den tid denne teknologien ikke er ferdig utviklet ennå.…”