Re:Amphetamine use in America's workforce
by eridius on Wednesday June 01, 2016 @07:08PM
(#11819019)
#1) Yes, if you give someone with no prior experience 40mg, that's going to have a significant effect. Someone who's prescribed that amount is done so because they've built up a tolerance. Just because 40mg may be an appropriate therapeutic dosage for one person doesn't mean it's considered a therapeutic dosage for everyone. Also, you said this was the amount per day that was prescribed; are they taking one dose of XR or two doses of non-XR? 60mg per day sounds very high for someone taking one dose of XR (15-30mg is much more common), but if it's really 2 doses of 30mg of non-XR, then that's different.
#2) I agree that ADHD is a complex subject and diagnosing is hard. However, given that something like 80% of people with ADHD show improvement with amphetamines, I'm not sure what the point is of this line of argument. Even if ADHD really is a cluster of similar issues, if they all can be treated the same way, then it doesn't really matter whether it's a single issue or multiple.
I'm not sure why you're trying to draw a comparison with depression. The only real connection here is that they're both psychiatric diagnoses, but beyond that they're not the same at all.
> But I doubt you can find me any study showing that we've ever seen so many people on high-dose daily amphetamines from a young age through adulthood until the past decade or so.
That's completely irrelevant. Why would you want a study looking at the number of people being prescribed? There's nothing you can conclude from the fact that more people are taking it now than before, because the number of people taking it has no relevance to its long-term effects. All that really matters is whether a statistically significant number of people have been taking it, and that's certainly been true.
#2) I agree that ADHD is a complex subject and diagnosing is hard. However, given that something like 80% of people with ADHD show improvement with amphetamines, I'm not sure what the point is of this line of argument. Even if ADHD really is a cluster of similar issues, if they all can be treated the same way, then it doesn't really matter whether it's a single issue or multiple.
I'm not sure why you're trying to draw a comparison with depression. The only real connection here is that they're both psychiatric diagnoses, but beyond that they're not the same at all.
> But I doubt you can find me any study showing that we've ever seen so many people on high-dose daily amphetamines from a young age through adulthood until the past decade or so.
That's completely irrelevant. Why would you want a study looking at the number of people being prescribed? There's nothing you can conclude from the fact that more people are taking it now than before, because the number of people taking it has no relevance to its long-term effects. All that really matters is whether a statistically significant number of people have been taking it, and that's certainly been true.