The prescription of Adderall will lead to a lifetime of addiction, and many other social problems
In today’s society, we trust everything that a doctor tells us. We follow their prescriptions, and advice because we were paying them to give us the best answers to our illnesses. In most cases, doctors want what is best for their patents, but doctors unfortunately do not make their money from treating healthy patients. Also, unfortunately, our society’s view of what truly helps is medication. The prescription of medication gives us reassurance, and in many cases, the medication works for the prescribed individual. Once medication is perceived to be this sort of “Miracle pill” to the user, who thinks the medication is a necessary part of their daily success, a whole new can of worms is popped open with its own problems. Looking at the prescription of Adderall, an ADHD ( Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ) medication, the drugs Addictive properties, and perceivable superhuman brain ability is just what doctors want in the medication.
A child who has symptoms of ADHD, may blurt out the answers before the questions have been completed, has difficulty awaiting turn, or intrudes and interrupts others. Temperaments that can simply be the result of bad teachings, and immaturity. Describing ADHD as a made up mental illness would be wrong, since there are definitely cases of people whose problems cannot be subdued thorough punishment, and behavioral teaching. The problem is, a doctor, or a parent (sometimes both) agree on the prescription of medication as the solution to their child’s classroom disturbances. What they should realize, is that with these amazing results of astounding performance, and a quilled, drugged up child, brings nothing but harm in the future.
We cannot idly sit by to a prescription that changes our immature youths brain. The Recovery village, which specializes in addiction awareness/education, put an article up on their website titled, “Is Adderall Safe? | Safe for Adults and Children?” describing the true risk of the drug. As a parent, we want what’s best for our kid. We cannot deny the therapeutic effects of Adderall onto those with ADHD. In return, we must also realize that these symptoms of ADHD can disappear over time. The article describing the pills purpose as, “… not meant to be a long-term treatment because symptoms of ADHD often get better in children as they get older”. The problem with this thinking of solving the problem at the beginning, or first signs of ADHD, is that the prescription can be fully avoided by letting a child figure out the consequences of their actions. As their symptoms perceivably get better, an ADHD diagnosed person is already on that daily regiment of popping that miracle pill each day. Someone who is reliant on this pill, and who has been brought up entrusting that pill with their normality in society cannot simply say goodbye to the pill when symptoms vanish.
The love of Adderall is not just due to Adderall’s unnatural performance enhancing, but its extremely addictive properties as well. The devastating effects of addiction should be enough to deter anyone from approaching any drug, but people tend to overlook, and outweigh addiction with all of the miracle works of said drug. In a first person account of one womans Adderall downfall published by The Washburn Review, in an article titled, ”The real effects of Adderall: a personal testimony” Taylor Evans goes in depth in her experiences. Evans knew that she did not have ADHD, but a simple visit to the doctors office with descriptions of problems with paying attention, and whatever other fluff she needed to embellish on to get the Adderall prescription. Evans loved the drug, comparing taking Adderall to “being superwoman.” She could get all of her homework done, write papers longer than the required length, clean her house until it was spotless and still pick up extra hours at work. Amazing right? Why would someone want to throw this superhuman opportunity away. Simple, they can’t. Once someone builds up this notion of only achieving that success from the medication, they will make the connection of pill = success, and no pill = no success. As time went on, Evans addiction to the drug worsened. The author says, “…Evans started accomplishing less at school and work and shifted her main focus to finding more pills. This disrupted both her studies and home life”. The drug will turn the user into them fully depending on the medication.
The matter of originally classifying a child’s temperaments, and immature qualities as ADHD stigmatizes a child, and puts them in a category different from others who are perceived to be “normal”. Once this connotation is put around an adolescent, they will start to think they need medication to be normal. In a YouTube video titled, “CCHR Co-Founder Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus” Dr. Thomas Szasz describes the connotation an illness or disease has now. He believes that any disease cannot be not based on behavior, its something in the body that malfunctions. The stigma and connotation ADHD has around it is socially constructed. By diagnosing a child with ADHD and classifying it as a disease, or disorder stigmatizes a child, and puts them in a category that they should not be in. Parents should not think that their kid has an illness based on behavior, and should not jump to try to treat it. Instead, society, and doctors push to treat immediately. When you make a child feel like he is sick, and needs the medication to be normal, this messes up the kid for the rest of his life. Putting him in the pill cycle till they don’t have any more pills to take… and when they don’t have the pills, they believe they cannot be normal.
This topic first spiked my interest when I started living with an Adderall addict. Seeing how dependent he was on the drug to be able to wake up, go to class, maintain his appetite, and stay focused scared me. It is not natural to have something change your performance so much. The benefits of the prescription (which there are many positive effects of the drug) should not even be considered if there is potential for a lifetime or dependency.
Work cited
https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/adderall/adderall-safe/#gref
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1715703263?pq-origsite=summon
what is this source?: a picture of both chemical makeups of Adderall and meth