In a new study, researchers compared people who were hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. They found that people taking prescription amphetamines (Adderall) were more than twice as likely to develop psychosis or mania; those on high doses were more than five times as likely.
However, when the researchers included outpatients as wellâessentially, those with less severe psychiatric problemsâthey found that those taking a high dose of amphetamines were more than 13 times as likely to develop psychosis/mania.
âThe results of this study suggest that high doses of prescription amphetamines are associated with an increased odds of incident psychosis or mania,â the researchers write.
The study was led by Lauren V. Moran, with joint senior authors Dost Ongur and Roy Perlis. It was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.
Moran is an employee of pharma company Sage Therapeutics. She is affiliated with Brigham and Womenâs Hospital. Moran is also affiliated with Harvard Medical School as a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, as is Ongur. Perlis is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
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“… the researchersâ takeaway was to try your best to avoid high doses of amphetamines.”
“… try your best …”??? Trying your best would be ending the unnecessary, unneeded, and harmful psych drugging of children altogether. As a mother, and one who ran art programs for children, much of my life. I do know children – and their seeming never ending energy and inquisitiveness – can be challenging.
But I’ve known in my gut, for decades, that anyone who thinks force drugging children with amphetamines – drugs more or less chemically identical to cocaine – are insane … or evil … or maybe just incredibly ignorant and lazy. A slap on the hand of a mischievous child (even with a ruler) is no where close to as evil, as psych drugging a child for life.
And I never had to do, nor did, either. But I will admit I did have to give one of my own children a quick hand slap on the butt once … because I was remiss in teaching my three year old about how delicate a newborn’s neck is, and in the moment, I was terrified he might accidentally hurt or kill his newborn sibling.
“Beyond the question of high doses, the diagnosis of ADHD itselfâand the prescription of stimulants at any doseâhas received significant criticism from prominent figures in psychiatry.”
And us critical psychiatry people, who did our homework over the past decades, want to see the ending of the psych drugging of all children … and all adults. All the psych drugs are dangerous, iatrogenic illness creating neurotoxins.
Thank you, as always, Peter, for your truth telling.
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Amphetamine psychosis has been noted since the 1930s in the early days of Benzedrine. Then as now there was money to be made. It wasnât until the 1970s in the USA that the amphetamines were officially regarded as highly addictive and only useful in limited circumstances. But of courseâŚ
There was and is money to be made. Rowdy kids alienated teenagers distracted adults who must be made ever more productiveâŚ.
At this point in time weâre mostly just cogs in the machine. Even well educated adults find that their education has earned them a bullshit job, albeit one with benefits and greater security than the low wage bullshit jobs. Use that quality health insurance and get yourself some uppers from the local adult adhd expert. âSpeed killsâ ? Maybe. In the long run, weâre all dead anyway.
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Iâm in the mental health field, and Iâm also a person who strongly identifies with my diagnosis of ADHD and has found my stimulant medications to be lifesaving.
One confounding variable in this study is that ADHD is ill-defined and poorly distinguished from other mental health conditions, including Autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and PTSD, even garden variety depression/anxiety. ADHD is more than just âattention problemsâ and âhigh energy,â and all of the disabilities I just listed can present with attention problemsâmost can also present with hyperactivity.
This leads to over diagnosis and misprescribing of stimulants. In my professional life Iâve most often seen this play out in children with Autism, who usually start with a diagnosis of ADHD or have one added later and are prescribed stimulants. From what Iâve observed anecdotally, stimulants can harm these children in ways I havenât seen (or personally experienced) in people with ADHD.
So especially if someone who is having attention issues because theyâre in a pre symptomatic phase of something like bipolar/schizophrenia, being misdiagnosed and prescribed stimulants (which CAN trigger psychosis, it is a stimulant!) would obviously put them at high risk of triggering their first fullblown episode.
But does that mean stims carry the same risk for people who truly have ADHD? Unclear based on this study.
Although Iâve personally benefited from stims, I should say I believe they should only be prescribed conservatively, not just to treat mild adhd symptoms but only moderate/severe cases when exercise/habit changes arenât enough. Or for short periods to build up habits that can be maintained for managing symptoms after meds are decreased or stopped.
But for people like me, whose adhd symptoms are absolutely, severely disabling, medication is a lifesaver. With them Iâm able to complete tasks, keep hold of my phone/debit cards/keys without losing them, plan and enjoy hobbies, sit down and finish a tv show, or listen to a friend and engage in a back and forth conversation. Without meds, I canât do any of those things. Literally, meds allow me to live my life. They may come with risksâof course!!! Everything in life comes with risks, including the choice NOT to medicateâbut itâs a risk me and others like me are 100% willing to take.
I think that view should be reflecting in your articles more. Otherwise youâre not truly advocating for all neurodivergent people.
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You hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to distinguish “real ADHD” from any of these other conditions or no condition at all, and the DSM itself admits this quite bluntly in its introduction. That you feel you BENEFITTED from stimulants is not a reflection that you have “real ADHD,” it’s a reflection that stimulants work for YOU personally. While I never want to take this away from you, it’s a very large leap from saying that “stimulants makes it so I can complete tasks, etc.” and “I have a diagnosable neurological condition that is objectively distinguishable from normal or other such conditions in me and any other person.” Unless you can reflect an objective way to do that, all you’re really saying is that stimulants have worked well for you. And more power to you for that. Just don’t assume others who act or feel similarly will have the same results, because experience and science says that most kids who take stimulants do no better in the long run than those that don’t.
“They work for me” is about all we can say for sure.
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Peter,
According to the NIH,
“Decreased MTHFR activity, which results in DECREASED FOLATE metabolism, can be seen in multiple psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, ASD, and ADHD. ”
and Adderall, decreases Folate
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