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The "if you need it" is important. 1. People take it as a study drug, without prescription. 2. There may be over medication. Doctors will sometimes feel pushe

The "if you need it" is important. 1. People take it as a study drug, without prescription. 2. There may be over medication. Doctors will sometimes feel pushed to prescribe (as is known to happen with antibiotics) 3. At an individual level that is true, but you may need it because of your society and environment. Both ADHD rates and treatment varies between countries (even between regions and states within countries) and has varied a lot over time, which implies some external factor affects it.

mr_00ff00 1y ago
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna95111 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna95111 1 out of every 5 Ivy League students is prescribed stimulants. I think it’s time we stop pretending like prescriptions magically mean the substance isn’t abused or is truly needed.
- FatherOfCurses 1y ago
  "1 out of every 5 Ivy League students is prescribed stimulants." From the third paragraph of the article: "Researchers analyzed responses from an online questionnaire of more than 600 Ivy League sophomores, juniors and seniors who were not diagnosed with ADHD — attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder — and therefore did not have a prescription for the medication. Writing essays and studying for an exam cause the most angst for students — of those who used stimulants, 69 percent said they used them to stay focused while writing and 66 percent said they used the drugs to help study."
  - mr_00ff00 1y ago
    Fair point, I was incorrect on the exact stat. But it is still very very high for legal prescriptions in the article compared to general populous.
trashface 1y ago
Not sure about over-medication. I think about all the people I used to work with that were absolutely addicted to caffeine, just to get through the day. And the work we were doing (software) didn't seem _that_ boring to me. Some of most hardcore caffeine addicts were from when I worked briefly in game dev (and that was my own peak usage too; now I can't drink coffee due to acid reflux, its also bad for my eyes because I have glaucoma now). I think untreated attention issues (if not the rather narrowly defined condition labeled "ADHD") are rather widespread. And society doesn't help, just look at the checklist of things you need to do on an ongoing basis to just keep a vehicle running for transport in the US, which pretty much everybody outside a city needs, and even many city dwellers elect to procure as well.

mr_00ff00 1y ago

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna95111 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna95111 1 out of every 5 Ivy League students is prescribed stimulants. I think it’s time we stop pretending like prescriptions magically mean the substance isn’t abused or is truly needed.

FatherOfCurses 1y ago
"1 out of every 5 Ivy League students is prescribed stimulants." From the third paragraph of the article: "Researchers analyzed responses from an online questionnaire of more than 600 Ivy League sophomores, juniors and seniors who were not diagnosed with ADHD — attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder — and therefore did not have a prescription for the medication. Writing essays and studying for an exam cause the most angst for students — of those who used stimulants, 69 percent said they used them to stay focused while writing and 66 percent said they used the drugs to help study."
- mr_00ff00 1y ago
  Fair point, I was incorrect on the exact stat. But it is still very very high for legal prescriptions in the article compared to general populous.

trashface 1y ago

Not sure about over-medication. I think about all the people I used to work with that were absolutely addicted to caffeine, just to get through the day. And the work we were doing (software) didn't seem _that_ boring to me. Some of most hardcore caffeine addicts were from when I worked briefly in game dev (and that was my own peak usage too; now I can't drink coffee due to acid reflux, its also bad for my eyes because I have glaucoma now). I think untreated attention issues (if not the rather narrowly defined condition labeled "ADHD") are rather widespread. And society doesn't help, just look at the checklist of things you need to do on an ongoing basis to just keep a vehicle running for transport in the US, which pretty much everybody outside a city needs, and even many city dwellers elect to procure as well.