Re:Me and ADHD
by username90 on Monday February 01, 2021 @08:51PM
(#25996612)
The study says they believe they got better focus from it, not that they actually improved. The fact that they spent more time yet didn't get better results strongly hints at their focus actually got worse instead of better.
Also I'm not sure what your point is. Yes many people abuse stimulants in this manner and hurt their life due to it. However many people also greatly improve their life using stimulants. The existence of the first group doesn't mean much for how I need to use the medication, all I need to know is that the medication greatly improved all aspects of my life going from an almost certain failure to a top performer. If you don't see life changing improvements in grades or job performance then you probably don't have ADHD, at least not the same kind I have.
> The students also showed an improvement in their alertness and their ability to focus, the researchers found.
The idea that only ADHD people see improved focus from stimulants is purely false, as indicated by the article you provided. It's a dangerous misconception, as many people use this misunderstanding to self-diagnose as ADHD when they take their friends' stimulant medication and experience improved focus. We need to be clear that non-ADHD patients still feel increased focus from stimulants as well.
You are correct that over-medicating with stimulant medications can harm certain types of cognitive function, in both ADHD and non-ADHD people. Dopamine has a well-known inverted U shaped response curve for certain cognitive processes. Going too far past the optimal point can worsen, not increase the focus changes.
The study also used a strangely high dose of Adderall. 30mg of instant release Adderall (equivalent to 60mg of Adderall XR) is actually beyond the recommend prescribing guidelines for ADHD. That's the type of dose that would typically only be prescribed to patients with severe narcolepsy or severe, intractable ADHD. I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to give it to medication-naive study subjects.