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The people who really need these and have tried everything else or struggled for years with ADHD really find the "you are just going to be an addict, have you t

The people who really need these and have tried everything else or struggled for years with ADHD really find the "you are just going to be an addict, have you tried meditation" approach patronizing.

criticaltinker 5y ago
Yeah I agree that some people genuinely need these drugs and didn't intend to imply otherwise - I reworded my statement to be more clear.
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mrhyyyyde 5y ago
Absolutely, I know a handful of these people, many are top performers/excellent at their jobs when they are able to stay above a pit of despair (have a fillable prescription).
rwnspace 5y ago
Well it happened to me - I struggled with motivation, went for a diagnosis, got on the meds, got hooked, and have been dealing with the consequences ever since. There are many possibilities to explore and steps to take when one suffers from a lack of motivation, focus, or anhedonia. Diagnosis and treatment is not a silver bullet - there is no such thing as a magic pill. It can do wonders - for my one of my friends it is incredibly helpful, but she had already taken steps to deal with other issues. I don't think it's wrong to add disclaimers in discussions like this - ADHD medication can change personality and cognition long-term.
bigwavedave 5y ago
> The people who really need these and have tried everything else or struggled for years with ADHD really find the "you are just going to be an addict, have you tried meditation" approach patronizing. Absolutely. It's a really frustrating experience too when you're denied access to these life-altering (not an exaggeration) medications for these reasons even when you have years of medical records detailing your condition and your treatment needs. I went to community college in a small town for the first two years of my degree; I had a great doc there who was happy to make sure I was getting the right doses for my condition and would check in with me every few weeks to see if anything had changed. After getting my associate's, I moved to a much larger city to transfer to a college roughly 10x the size of my community college for my bachelor's degree. I found a reputable local doc, got my medical records transferred, and made an appointment (required for a controlled substance) to continue my prescription. You know what he told me? "Oh, since this is a college town with several colleges and a lot of students looking to abuse 'study drugs', our policy is that we don't treat your condition here. But I have some resources on meditation and mindfulness that you should look through." I got the same kind of answer at two other offices before I got fed up and asked my original doc to get me a referral to a psychiatrist who wouldn't blow me off like these quacks had. I'm not saying that substance abuse isn't a problem, but I also don't think that treating everybody like children and drug seekers is the right call. But hey, n=1 and I'm just some guy with a beard- YMMV.
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hypertele-Xii 5y ago
Despite these unfortunate feelings, it's still valuable and actionable advice. To me the key is changing the way I think about it - It's not an illness, I'm different. It's not a curse, I'll figure out how to make it a blessing. I don't need meds, I'll work it out.
_moof 5y ago
Hear, hear. This is practically a trope, and not just with ADHD but all kinds of illness, mental and physical. I'm not saying psychiatry or the pharmaceutical industry are perfect, or that there are zero people taking meds who don't need to, but come on - there are actually lots and lots and lots of folks who have tried things like meditation and it didn't make it possible for them to get through the day. People with these kinds of problems reach a point of desperation after having tried everything you could possibly think of. So when the hundredth person comes along and says "you don't need meds, you just need X," where X is one of the many, many things they've already tried, it's exasperating.
deleted 5y ago
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The people who really need these and have tried everything else or struggled for years with ADHD really find the "you are just going to be an addict, have you tried meditation" approach patronizing.

criticaltinker 5y ago

Yeah I agree that some people genuinely need these drugs and didn't intend to imply otherwise - I reworded my statement to be more clear.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mrhyyyyde 5y ago

Absolutely, I know a handful of these people, many are top performers/excellent at their jobs when they are able to stay above a pit of despair (have a fillable prescription).

rwnspace 5y ago

Well it happened to me - I struggled with motivation, went for a diagnosis, got on the meds, got hooked, and have been dealing with the consequences ever since. There are many possibilities to explore and steps to take when one suffers from a lack of motivation, focus, or anhedonia. Diagnosis and treatment is not a silver bullet - there is no such thing as a magic pill. It can do wonders - for my one of my friends it is incredibly helpful, but she had already taken steps to deal with other issues. I don't think it's wrong to add disclaimers in discussions like this - ADHD medication can change personality and cognition long-term.

bigwavedave 5y ago

> The people who really need these and have tried everything else or struggled for years with ADHD really find the "you are just going to be an addict, have you tried meditation" approach patronizing. Absolutely. It's a really frustrating experience too when you're denied access to these life-altering (not an exaggeration) medications for these reasons even when you have years of medical records detailing your condition and your treatment needs. I went to community college in a small town for the first two years of my degree; I had a great doc there who was happy to make sure I was getting the right doses for my condition and would check in with me every few weeks to see if anything had changed. After getting my associate's, I moved to a much larger city to transfer to a college roughly 10x the size of my community college for my bachelor's degree. I found a reputable local doc, got my medical records transferred, and made an appointment (required for a controlled substance) to continue my prescription. You know what he told me? "Oh, since this is a college town with several colleges and a lot of students looking to abuse 'study drugs', our policy is that we don't treat your condition here. But I have some resources on meditation and mindfulness that you should look through." I got the same kind of answer at two other offices before I got fed up and asked my original doc to get me a referral to a psychiatrist who wouldn't blow me off like these quacks had. I'm not saying that substance abuse isn't a problem, but I also don't think that treating everybody like children and drug seekers is the right call. But hey, n=1 and I'm just some guy with a beard- YMMV.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

hypertele-Xii 5y ago

Despite these unfortunate feelings, it's still valuable and actionable advice. To me the key is changing the way I think about it - It's not an illness, I'm different. It's not a curse, I'll figure out how to make it a blessing. I don't need meds, I'll work it out.

_moof 5y ago

Hear, hear. This is practically a trope, and not just with ADHD but all kinds of illness, mental and physical. I'm not saying psychiatry or the pharmaceutical industry are perfect, or that there are zero people taking meds who don't need to, but come on - there are actually lots and lots and lots of folks who have tried things like meditation and it didn't make it possible for them to get through the day. People with these kinds of problems reach a point of desperation after having tried everything you could possibly think of. So when the hundredth person comes along and says "you don't need meds, you just need X," where X is one of the many, many things they've already tried, it's exasperating.

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