Letters to the Editor
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worst article ever
This is the worst article Salon has ever published. Besides being a creepy ex-drug dealer, what are Mr. Amsden's qualifications for deciding who has a real mental disorder? I have an anxiety disorder, it really exists, and sometimes without medication I can't do normal things that other people can do. I think by following the advice of professionals and doing the things I need to do to keep functioning, I am taking care of myself and taking responsibility for my well-being.
This is a sensitive issue for people, there are social stigmas involved, and stupid, flippant articles by idiots do nothing to further the dialogue. Certainly this is not a well-researched article. There is no actual expertise here. And yet, the purpose of this article is to make people like me feel shame, because we are--what was it?--"redefining life as a disorder." Go attack some Republicans or something, why don't you, Salon, and leave the vulnerable alone.
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Life: The Disorder
I don't doubt that many people (adults and children) are medicated - and overly so - for the sole reason that it's easier to pop a pill than it is to grit one's teeth and work through problems. We're a society that wants a quick fix. From weight loss to grieving, we don't want to suffer, and we want our results immediately. I suffer from ADD, severe anxiety and occasional depression. In my darkest moments, in the times when I feel like an alien in my own life, I want nothing more than to feel good again. The idea of waiting weeks or months for another treatment to work seems unspeakably painful when just getting out of bed is a monumental task to consider.
Regardless of the root cause of the problem, however, the symptoms of anxiety and depression and even ADD can make it impossible to move beyond the quivering mess stage to seek out other effective treatments. It's well-known, for example, that severe anxiety can be treated with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - but it can take long, painful months to work. A week of meds can eradicate the worst of the suffering. Which would you choose?
Similarly, ADD can sometimes be conquered by following a rigid diet and exercise plan along various learned behaviours to help with organization and attention - but how can one sit down and investigate those options when every action is preceeded by a distracted and chaotic brain spasm?
Does our environment shape us? Certainly. We have more distractions, a more chaotic lifestyle to keep up with, shifted priorities and changed values from previous generations. At the same time, we also have better diagnostic tools, better understandings of genetics and neurology and brain disorders, and better medications to treat those issues. Is there an increase in ADD or is it that we've finally started to understand why some kids are 'space cadets' in class, and why some adults can't keep their lives together no matter how desperately they may try?
Ideally, it's about balance - medication, perhaps, to alleviate the worst of the suffering to allow the person to resolve the other issues. Long-term plans for depression and anxiety. Doctors who are better versed in natural remedies and new medications. And more education for non-afflicted individuals who believe taking medications is "cheating".
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Take a walk through my life
My son has ADHD. Yes, he's seven, and yes, he takes medication. Go ahead and call me what you like. But this is the kid who when we forgot his meds was at school not just jumping in puddles but drinking out of them. This is the kid who when he's on his meds is literate, articulate, imaginative, and a joy to be around. Off meds he's a turbo-charged bolt of lightning who couldn't learn to read (or anything else for that matter) for any amount of money in the world. In terms of maturity, he's about two to three years younger than his peers in his behavior when he's off meds. Just try putting a mental four year old in second grade and see how he does. It's not fair to him, his teachers, or his classmates. Lacking the personal funding for both a zookeeper and a full-time tutor, this is what helps him survive in public school. It's not all roses, and it doesn't solve everything. There are side-effects like sleeplessness and appetite suppression which we struggle with every day. But the medication means that he can have friends, he can learn in school, he can play soccer, he can participate in life in a meaningful way.
ADHD is real, no matter how much you'd like to write flippant articles and believe it is not. Maybe ritalin is over-prescribed. Maybe it's not. But articles like yours don't leave any room for real cases.
I have yet to meet a parent of an ADHD child who tried medications lightly, without spending years doing everything else first. Therapy, behavior modification, diet, everything. Exactly how long is it that I should wait, watching my son struggle and fail, because it's only a recreational drug? Get real.
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Hear, hear.
Amsden's right on. And as for the world being a tougher place to grow up and live in now, I find that really hard to believe. I mean, can you picture factory workers in the 19th Century lying around in bed all day, whining that they're too depressed to get up? Is life harder for you than for a soldier in WWI, or an African sharecropper? How do people get by?! How do they drag themselves out of bed!
Why are such a disproportionate volume of these drugs consumed in America? Because poison fast food and television have made us sick, and convinced us we have ailments we don't really have.
The only mental illness running rampant in the American population is hypochondria, fueled by drug companies' ability to slip one recreational drug after another past a crippled FDA and a crooked Congress.
People, turn off the TV and ask yourself; what would you do if these drugs didn't exist? Would you give up and die? Would you stop going to work? Is life supposed to be easy? Stop eating the garbage they try to poison you with, turn off the permanent stream of propaganda, listen to your own heart beating for awhile. Is there really anything wrong with you? Or are you just an insatiable zombie slave to the slop trough?