Question

1. Movie reflection: what does it mean to be healthy? What should we mean by well-being? How much benefit we can take from using pills? Focus on one story narrated in the movie.
2. Watching the documentary on Take your pills

Answer 1

1. It is not at mean to be healthy. The Adderall/ ADHD is a stimulant that will not provide any health effects or positive impact on our health. But the demands for these drugs in the present society are increasing because all want to be top in anywhere. This will just help as a performance enhancer will always be attractive in this society. Issues of personality, family, and neighborhood are far more profound influences on future drug abuse that is the mean effect for the drug abusers.

2. The main point of this film: these characters either

1. Did not want to take medication,

2. Chose to go off the medication

3. Were perceptive enough and realized that if less demands were placed on them (the music manager) they would “never take it again” as well as being truthful that on the medication he gets the job done, but off the medication, stuff gets done whenever.

Getting a job done or not done is different from being competitive or boosting productivity. I just want to point this out to everyone, as these characters did so: most people who actually have ADHD would rather not be taking medication, and probably error on the side of not taking it whenever possible, and are not the people who become addicted to the high. Stimulants do make everyone feel good, but as usual, films like this lump the people who actually had ADHD, and benefit from medication in with all the others who just are using them as performance enhancers. Why else would they have extra to sell?

People with ADHD sell their pills on the side because yes, they have constant access via prescription so as a double result they do not “covet” them because they wish they didn’t have to take them in the first place! If they did they would keep it all to themselves! When people with ADHD forget to take medication they are like “whoops, whatever”, not jonesing for them.

I also appreciated the comparison to the opioid epidemic which demonstrates the same pattern: people with chronic pain are not the ones abusing opioids and are typically not the people who become addicted per se. If their medication wears off, they have chronic pain, while when abusers’/addicts’ medication wears off they do not, and thus have entered the addiction rollercoaster that perhaps did start with pain, but the mental pain has replaced the physical pain.

3. I don’t see how you think this demonizes ADHD or Adderall if anything I got the complete opposite from it. The film’s clear aim is to provoke, to further confuse a largely science-illiterate public and pile on more stigma. Moreover, this “Adderall epidemic!!! and ADHD over-diagnosis!!!” theme constantly rears its ugly head.