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[–]yousaythosethingsFind and Replace "gatekeeping" with "having boundaries" 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Are you referring to amphetamines like Adderall? Are you against the use of amphetamines in the treatment of ADHD?

ETA: My tone is curious not accusatory, just to be clear.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Are you referring to amphetamines like Adderall?

Yes.

Are you against the use of amphetamines in the treatment of ADHD?

I think it's highly questionable, at best. I commented about it in a Sunday thread from a few weeks ago-- commonly-recommended psychiatric drugs have been one of my minor interests I've been reading about recently. This website I linked is incredibly well-thought-out and resourced, and discusses the little-known side effects and limited evidence bases that apparently characterize ADHD meds, as well as a few other types of drug: https://www.theinnercompass.org/learn-unlearn

The TLDR is that most ADHD meds, from what I can tell, were only found to be "effective" when taken for periods of a few months, at maximum. (I say "effective" in quotes because the details of those studies suggest that their apparent effectiveness may be due to the presence of confounds. For example, the "not on ADHD meds" groups that were compared to the "on ADHD meds" groups were suffering from withdrawal symptoms during the study since they were abruptly taken off their ADHD meds in order to participate in the study. That type of sudden withdrawal likely had a large impact on their ADHD symptom scores... and could be the main cause of the finding that the "on ADHD meds" groups had relatively better ADHD symptom scores.) However, many people I've met who use ADHD meds have actually taken them for years at a time-- some even since early childhood.

Part of why I started reading this more was because I stumbled across an article talking about how SSRIs (for depression) cause sexual dysfunction, lack of libido, inability to orgasm, etc. in people. I was kind of shocked because (as all of us here know) that's an under-discussed side effect of puberty blockers. I hadn't realized that there were similar issues going on with other types of psychiatric drugs. I haven't read enough to be convinced yet that all psychiatric drugs are harmful/useless, to be clear, but several commonly-prescribed types seem to be and I find that incredibly concerning. And of course there's the $$$ incentive with psychiatrists, same as with transitioning drugs.