The stigma around ADHD and therapeutic stimulants makes an already difficult situation for millions of people far worse, writes Michael A. Cohen.
over the past five years and increased even more dramatically during the pandemic.
Part of the issue is certainly the aforementioned increase in prescriptions. During the pandemic, rules were changed to allow prescriptions filled after a telehealth session . As a result, by one estimate, close to 40 percent of all stimulant prescriptions now come from online visits.,” which have been exacerbated by the supply chain issues that have wracked the global economy for more than two years.
But the bigger issue, from her perspective, is that “no one was ringing the bell that we were on our way to having a shortage.” With the lack of media and political attention to the issue, the problem kept getting worse, and ADHD sufferers have been left in the lurch, forced to fend for themselves or find a solution on their own.
These stories, says Friedman, have “fed a public perception that [ADHD] is either a mild problem or an invented one, or even worse, the people diagnosed are just lazy.” For ADHD sufferers, these attitudes are frustrating to hear but are perhaps understandable. It’s difficult to explain to people who don’t suffer from ADHD why this affliction makes seemingly ordinary and everyday tasks so difficult or how simply taking a pill can mean the difference between a productive day and one that is not.
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