The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Margaret Talbot at The New Yorker has an incredible piece on the use of drugs like Adderall and Ritalin to give “regular” non-ADHD students a competitive edge by allowing them to concentrate.
New psychiatric drugs have a way of creating markets for themselves. Disorders often become widely diagnosed after drugs come along that can alter a set of suboptimal behaviors. In this way, Ritalin and Adderall helped make A.D.H.D. a household name, and advertisements for antidepressants have helped define shyness as a malady. If there’s a pill that can clear up the wavering focus of sleep-deprived youth, or mitigate the tip-of-the-tongue experience of middle age, then those rather ordinary states may come to be seen as syndromes.
Oh dear.
Both Chatterjee and Farah have wondered whether drugs that heighten users’ focus might dampen their creativity. After all, some of our best ideas come to us not when we sit down at a desk but, rather, when we’re in the shower or walking the dog—letting our minds roam. Jimi Hendrix reported that the inspiration for “Purple Haze” came to him in a dream; the chemist Friedrich August Kekule claimed that he discovered the ring structure of benzene during a reverie in which he saw the image of a snake biting its tail. Farah told me, “Cognitive psychologists have found that there is a trade-off between attentional focus and creativity. And there is some evidence that suggests that individuals who are better able to focus on one thing and filter out distractions tend to be less creative.”
This sounds right to me, seriously.
This is scary stuff.
OnPoint on NPR had a show on this in February, listen here: Mind-Enhancers for All?.
I have been recently diagnosed with ADHD(combined type). What you say seems somewhat true to me. The problem with this is that even though people who have low attention span, have higher creativity, most of them wouldnt be able to do anything significant with all their ideas and thoughts, just like me. Yes, a bit of distraction might be useful for coming up with great ideas, but most ordinary people dont need to be that creative as these scientists, musicians. I dont know where you get this logic from, its like saying that because Albert Einstein failed to pass the engineering test, all people who fail it are like Albert Einstein and will acheive the same status as he did.
I can come up with thousands of ideas, but can never finish a project, because in the middle of the project I will start thinking of how to optimize this, optimize that, and make it more and more complex..and in the end do nothing.
Thus, I think a balance is required, and this balance can be developed perhaps by using short acting drugs.
Paul: Those are quotes from the article from neurologists who are pondering the extended use of these drugs OUTSIDE of the ADHD world. You seem to not understand that this article is about the use of these drugs by people who DO NOT have ADD or ADHD.
For people with ADHD like yourself, these drugs, used correctly can be a godsend.
It’s a well written and important article, I recommend you follow the link and read it.
tHE PROBLEM ARE NOT THE mEDS . iT IS THE MIS USE BY PEOPLE OF THE MEDS. wE HAVE A HUGE DRUG PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY THAT AFFECTS ALL WALKS OF LIFE . iN ADDITION , THEIR ARE OTHER DISORDERS THAT HAVE A LEGITAMITE REASON THESE MEDICATIONS ALSO.
Ann: I agree, these meds are useful when used correctly. This article is not about that, it’s about the misuse of them by people who do not need them.
Richard,
I agree with the article, I guess my point that the drug is not bad in its self. its the misuse of the drug. Or at times neoroenhance drugs have become the “scapegoat” of some bad behavior of indivuals not willing to except responablity for their own action.
Ann: Absolutely, I agree. Very much like our “war on drugs” in the US where we blame everyone but the users of drugs (the foreign countries, the dealers, etc.). If there was no demand, illegal drugs would go away.
Same with misuse of legal drugs: the drugs aren’t the problem, it’s the people misusing them.
Sorry I didn’t catch your initial point and as one who knows many people who rely on drugs like these to have “normal” lives, it would be terrible if their access was limited because of misuse by people who don’t need them.