Increasing numbers of people are absent from work with a diagnosis of depression, and this has become a social problem in Japan. This study examines the hypothesis that this rise of depression‐related absenteeism in Japan is influenced by social factors that contribute to the medicalization of social problems. Here, “social factors” are corporate systems that affect workers' psychology and mental health, media coverage and disease awareness campaigns by pharmaceutical companies, the intentions of patients' physicians, as well as psychopathological factors such as increased workplace stress. Data were obtained from semi‐structured interviews conducted with 50 workers who had a history of taking depression‐related leaves of absence, and a re‐diagnosis by six physicians of 10 representative cases derived from categorizations based on data from the interviews. The data were analyzed to identify social factors underlying the rise in depression‐related absenteeism and the mechanisms of medicalization of social problems. Social factors found to affect the rise of depression‐related absenteeism include mentalities whereby patients, seeking to escape from harsh work environments, may wish to receive a diagnosis of depression to take a leave of absence; and the intention of participants' physicians to provide the diagnosis out of sympathy even when official diagnostic criteria are not met. Thus, it would seem that work‐related social problems that should normally be addressed by public policy measures are in fact being medicalized. Moreover, this study considers how “self‐medicalization” by patients renders the solution to social problems more complex by contributing to the further medicalization of social problems.

中文翻译：

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社会问题的医疗化：日本与抑郁症相关的旷工现象日益严重

越来越多的人因为诊断出患有抑郁而缺席工作，这已经成为日本的社会问题。这项研究检验了以下假说，即日本与抑郁症相关的旷工现象的增加受到社会因素的影响，而社会因素导致了社会问题的医疗化。在这里，“社会因素”是影响员工心理和心理健康，制药公司的媒体报道和疾病意识运动，患者医生的意图以及诸如工作场所压力增加等心理病理因素的公司系统。数据来自对50名有因抑郁而缺勤的病史的工人进行的半结构化访谈，六名医师根据访谈数据对10个代表性病例进行了重新诊断，这些病例来自分类。对数据进行了分析，以确定与抑郁症相关的旷工现象增加的社会因素以及社会问题的医学化机制。被发现会影响与抑郁症相关的缺勤现象增加的社会因素包括：心态，寻求逃避恶劣工作环境的患者可能希望接受抑郁症的诊断以休假。以及即使没有达到官方诊断标准，参与者医生的意图也是出于同情而提供诊断。因此，似乎通常应通过公共政策措施解决的与工作相关的社会问题实际上已在医疗中。而且，