The ‘Over Medication of America’ Myth
There is a very dangerous thought that people have when they hear that someone is taking medication for depression or ADD, and that thought is “I know he doesn’t really need it. The doctors over prescribe that stuff [anti-depressants] and he should just snap out of it. Only weak people and losers take those pills.”
The truth is, at first, no one wants to take medication to feel better. It means they know something is wrong inside their mind/body machine and have no other way to feel better. They have admitted to themselves and a doctor that they need help, and are now taking medication to manage their illness(es).
People judge themselves hard for taking medication, and it takes a long time to come to terms with the fact that if they don’t take their meds shit is going to go sideways emotionally, which is a very bad thing. And by bad I mean the really bad stuff like becoming emotionally unstable, being verbally abusive to friends, family, and co-workers, inflicting self-harm, drug abuse, and ultimately suicide.
The reason this myth is so damaging is that these drugs are a lifeline for so many people, and they wouldn’t be here without them. These are the people for whom the drugs were initially created, and for these people they are a Godsend.
Fact: An estimated 350 million (that’s 350,000,000) people worldwide suffer from depression annually, and 800,000 (almost a MILLION) people commit suicide from depression EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Think about it — 800,000 people feel so horrible about themselves that death is better than continuing on with their life. In the US alone, over 16,000,000 million adults suffered from a depressive episode in 2013. These statistics are coming from the W.H.O. The World Health Organization. You can check them here.
People are depressed (and have ADD) for many reasons, some we understand and some we don’t. We do know some of the things that contribute to depression are; A chemical imbalance, an emotionally damaging childhood, mentally or physically abusive relationships, an undiagnosed learning disorder like Dyslexia, Autism, Dysphasia/Aphasia, and ADD. These learning disorders, when undiagnosed and untreated, cause the person to think ‘Why can’t I learn these things? I must be stupid and worthless’.
How do I know so much about all of this? Because I am one of these people. I am one of the 350 million people on this planet who suffer from depression coupled with attention deficit ‘whatever’, and for whom medication has allowed me to FINALLY get my shit together after 30+ years of wondering ‘What the fuck is wrong with me’.
My story
I was diagnosed as a young boy with ADD but was never treated for it, and wasn’t even told that I had it! It was the mid 80’s and my mother didn’t believe that ADD really needed medical treatment. She thought that all I needed was to reduce my sugar and caffeine intake and I would be fine. The diet change didn’t help and I continued to suffer from ADD for all of my childhood, constantly wondering ‘What the fuck is wrong with me?’
I didn’t ’outgrow it’ and it was not addressed for the rest of my elementary, middle school and high school education. My mind was racing out of control and no matter how hard I tried or how much I worked I just couldn’t focus and get my school work done.
Eventually the inability to do well in school led to feelings of inadequacy. This, coupled with the emotional roller coaster at home (supplied by my ‘loving’ narcissistic alcoholic father) caused me to become depressed at a very early age. Undiagnosed and untreated. I became depressed starting in 5th grade and it lasted all the way through college. I thought it was ‘normal’ to be full of sadness, full of negativity towards the world, to always see the bad side of things, to not trust anyone, to not feel anything except contempt and bitterness. I was miserable and thought ‘This is just how life is. Everyone feels this way, and if they say they don’t they are lying.’ Happy people made me sick.
My home life was atrocious, as is almost always the case in households with an untreated child with ADD and depression. My parents called me lazy, punished me for doing poorly in school, and I was verbally and emotionally abused by my father. He tried to ‘motivate’ me by saying things such as ‘When you graduate High School I want to be proud of you. I want to see you on that [graduation] stage and say [proudly] that’s MY son! But, right now, who you are, I am embarrassed to call you my son. I wouldn’t want anyone to know we are related’.
Yeah, he said that. For real. My Dad.
My mother was never was able to connect the dots between my early childhood diagnosis and what was happening in High School. Never for a moment did she think ‘Wow, he is trying his hardest and just can’t do it. Something else must be going on because I know he is smart.’
Had my parents taken the ADD diagnosis seriously when I was younger my life would have been completely different. Elementary, Jr and High School would have been different. College would have been different. My entire life would have been different.
But, here I am, battle worn, scarred, and taking care of myself, finally. This I have done ON MY OWN. Realizing that my untreated ADD was the major thing contributing to my depression was the biggest breakthrough I have ever made.
It has completely changed my life.
I knew I was different and not like most other people, but I could not put my figure it out until my cousin gave me a book about ADD and its effects when untreated. Reading the book was like having the lights go on in a darkened mansion. And while I have been on and off medications for depression since the early 2000’s, it was treating the ADD piece that has allowed me to finally become whole.
When I take my depression meds I am good. Real good. The person I have always known that I am, and could be good. When I don’t I am not and it is horrible. It really is that cut-and-dry. I take my medication and I can function as a human, and I won’t say ‘normal’ because there really isn’t such a thing. When I don’t I can’t. I am my own daily therapist, and I have a medical doctor whom I trust and see regularly. He helps me make sense of the things that are just beyond my reach and he manages my prescriptions.
At 44 I finally feel ‘normal’ (in quotes). I get up and get out of bed and do the things that I have always wanted to do. I go to work with people I like and do something I enjoy. I am creative without having to have it be ‘the reason I am able to go on’. My life, in and of itself, has meaning. I simply want to live, finally.
As far as my ADD goes, that is under control too. When I need to do something I decide to do it and I do it. I don’t do 100 other things. I am not scared to try to do it and think I will fail or not finish it. I know I will get it done, I won’t fail, I’ll just do it.
All of this because I take my medication. Not over-medicated, not taking something I don’t need, and not being lazy.
Here is the big thing to take away from all of this — it has been so very hard for me to accept the fact that I need to take medications to function. I wish I didn’t have to take them, and sometimes I slip and think I can do without them and things start to slip.
Even when I am taking them life is still a battle. There is no magic bullet, and I am not sleepwalking through anything. What they afford me is some breathing room so that I can ‘snap out of it’ and I can ‘get it together’.
So, the next time you hear that someone is taking medication before you judge them remember this: The person who wrote this would not be here if it weren’t for the ADD and depression treating medications, and him being here makes him and a lot of other people really really happy.