Ritalin and similar medications cause brain to focus on benefits of work (2020)

> stimulant-based treatment of ADHD in childhood and adolescence does cause significant changes in brain structure. In a good way.

I've seen the literature showing evidence of reduced depression and suicide rates in adolescents who undergo long-term treatment with Ritalin and closely related drugs.

Are you aware of anything beyond that? Please cite the sources here so we can all learn. I have yet to see any conclusive evidence that the changes in brain structure and function are always 'good', and the previous citations I provided present evidence that counters your claim.

No, but we’re definitely seeing the results of the first generation to be taking stimulants their whole life beginning in early childhood.

I was on amphetamines for ADHD for nearly 30 years. Toward the end it got really hard to tell the difference between “amped up and focused” and “active psychosis”. My behavior was erratic and people around me were worried, despite these being drugs I had taken my entire life. They worked well and helped me get to a certain point in my career where soft skills become more important, when they suddenly became a hindrance.

I switched to Strattera / atomoxetine (a non-stimulant drug approved for use with ADHD) and it’s been great. I can’t rely on the drugs for motivation anymore, but it does seem to remove the roadblocks to focusing on something when I really need to.

I’m never going to have great attention to detail without amphetamines, and I’ve had to accept that and adopt a more “visionary” outlook. But I no longer feel like a square peg trying to force herself into a round hole. Amphetamines are good if your working style is to disappear into a hole and come out with a whole lot of productivity, but for anything collaborative I find they can be more of a burden than a boon.

> apparently they don't experience the high that those without get from such stimulants.

Isn't part of it due to dosage? From what I understand, medical doses are lower than recreational doses, sometimes by a factor of 5-10.

> apparently they don't experience the high that those without get from such stimulants

Anyone aware of literature confirming or explaining this phenomenon?

> don't experience the high that those without get from such stimulants

This is an urban legend doctors used to tell parents to get them ok with the idea of their kids taking stimulants. Amphetamines are “go pills”; they make you more productive in low doses and get you high in high doses whether you have ADHD or not.

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.

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.

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.

> 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.

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.

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).

Caffeine and methylphenidate are in completely different leagues.

look up jfk and doctor feelgood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Jacobson