Should I Be Medicated?
Over the past few years, I have consistently joked about having ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). My capacity for being random and changing focus can be pretty astounding. Now, I have never actually been diagnosed with ADD, and to be honest, I have never thought I really had the disorder. After all, some people just have a random nature to their personality, right?
The other day, I was driving in my car, when an advertisement got my attention (and kept it, since it was only about thirty seconds long). “Do you suffer from any of these conditions: Do you find it difficult to complete a task, even when you have the time and you know it has to be done? Do you often start projects but have difficulty completing them? Are you easily distracted? … You may have Adult ADD.â€
At first, I just sort of laughed it off. Then I thought about the symptoms, and I realized I pretty much had them all. In fact, when I read the part about starting projects just now, I laughed and wondered to myself if this article would actually get finished. I have many articles which have been started and remain unfinished in my articles folder on my laptop. Sometimes, I actually go back to them and finish them. Most of the time, they sit there attesting to my Adult ADD.
This advertisement on the radio was not merely to make people aware they may have the disorder, they were letting us know there was medical help available to us in the form of drugs. In fact, we may even be eligible to enter a program to test out the effects of drugs on people with Adult ADD.
Not going to settle the drug debate
In writing this article, in no way am I attempting to settle the big drug debate. Opinions are heavy on both sides and everywhere in between on the prescription of drugs for mental disorders. Some take the extreme that drugs should never be prescribed for these things, while on the opposite end voices scream out that if it helps, use them at any time. I find myself somewhere in between. I guess I feel that only in the most extreme situations should drugs be used, and other means should be pursued whenever possible.
There are ethical questions involved here which many would choose to ignore or discard as trivial matters. For one, what standard of normalcy are we trying to attain by medicating those who do not fit? Who sets this standard? Is it right to assume that using medication to bring people into this standard of wellness is good and right? Additionally, could we be hurting the formation of a person’s character, spirit, or soul by artificially producing change through modifying the chemicals in one’s body?
A very good friend of mine went into the counseling center of a Christian university, and before really having any significant time with the counselor, a prescription for a drug was given to her. She was shocked that the counselor had only heard a few of her “symptoms†and was ready to begin medication. My friend was not functioning normally, so the counselor wanted to fix that as quickly as possible. My friend left the office that day upset, and she did a lot of thinking about whether to take the prescription or not. She chose not to, and pursued counseling through other means. Within a few months, she was back to her “normal†self again.
If my friend had taken the drugs, she would possibly still be in therapy today. Why? Because the taking of the drugs would have moderated the symptoms which were telling her something was wrong. The motivation to deal with the issues which were depressing her would have been removed. If you are functioning “normally,†why would you try to tap into the very issues which make you depressed in the first place? Doing such a thing would probably cause you to need more medication.
Eccentricity is not a disorder
What’s more, I find many people who match symptoms for certain “disorders†but are functioning quite fine in life. Often, the artistic, creative people I come into contact with suffer from many symptoms. In many cases, they share a common thread: freedom. When an individual – not out of rebellion or spite – chooses to live out a life on non-conformity, a sense of freedom rises up from within.
I am often thought to be lazy or irresponsible because of certain patterns I do not conform to. For work, I do freelance web design and website hosting. Often, I do my work at about one in the morning, finishing about four or five, sometimes even later. When you are up that long, you sleep in late. Typically, I wake up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., depending on how late I was up working or playing the night before. For many, there is an automatic assumption built in about people who wake up that “late†in the day. They are lazy, irresponsible, and they need to grow up.
If a person goes to bed at ten p.m., and sleeps until eight a.m., they are not lazy or irresponsible, at all, even though they are getting a couple of more hours of sleep then someone like me every night. Since they conform to the standard of a morning person’s world, they are acceptable. No medication needed for these types of persons.
I have found that I function better all day long when my body is on this abnormal sleeping pattern. Could it be that not all people are designed to fit into the “normal†sleep patterns? Could we be doing a disservice by trying to force people into patterns of “normalcy?â€
Transformation of self
I have no doubt that if I were to begin taking medication, I would not seek out the type of transformation necessary to truly be a different person. Following through on commitments, devoting myself to projects I have committed to, among other things, are vital for me if I am to be a person of character. Though I often have difficulty with these things, I find I am being transformed into the type of person who will follow through, be devoted, etc. Were I to use drugs to fix these things, I would never really be a different person, I would merely be someone who artificially modifies his personality to be more efficient.
And not all of my eccentricities are bad, some of the quirks in my personality are just quirks. The uniqueness of my person does not need to be changed. Sometimes, I need to just surround myself with persons who compliment my quirks and giftings. Some people are not visionary and have difficulty getting started with projects, while others have a passion for starting then get lost in the details. Paired together, these people form a dynamic team. We cannot lose the uniqueness of human life and function the way God intended.
It is true that no man is an island; we are all intricately connected in a way that requires each individual to be true to his unique human flavor. When we strive for conformity, we lose a bit of our humanity, even our individuality. Embracing our differences and learning to fit the pieces together is essential if we are to find the genuine “patterns†for human life in this broker world.
I am not a doctor or a counselor. I am sure there are times when people cannot function without medication. I just think we need to be very careful what standard we use to determine if someone is functioning normally.
Alan Hartung is the General Editor of THEOOZE. You can email him at alan@theooze.com.
Note: This article was first publshed on THEOOZE.
