Well, the first thing one has to be aware of with any psychiatric medication is that they are MIND-ALTERING drugs. They, in fact, alter the way the mind works (often in ways that aren't really understood - certainly by those taking them - and even by those that have created and/or study them) - and they alter a whole variety of things - both mental and physical - some permanently.
So I immediately become suspicious any time I hear rave reports about how "wonderful" they are ..... particularly when it's coming from someone that is on a drug that alters their perceptions and ability to think. Kinda reminds me of back in the day ..... of certain friends ...... that were on drugs (LSD, mescaline, peyote, PCP, crystal meth, Quaaludes, ..... you name it, they did it) describing how "wonderful" these substances were. ......... shyeah, right .....
Ritalin is classified by the DEA under Title 21 as a Schedule 2 drug. Schedule 2 is reserved for drugs that have a very, very limited medical use. (Schedule 1 is for drugs that have no valid medical use whatsoever I believe) Another example of a Schedule 2 drug is ..... cocaine .... or opium.
Ritalin is a stimulant. It's basically speed. So is Adderall - it's combo ****tail of four different amphetamine salts. Anyone who cares to, can inform themselves of what effects long-term stimulant use has on an individual - there are both mental and physical effects - none of them particularly good. Try Googling Tardive Dystonia or Tardive Dyskinesia - as but of the two permanent physical conditions, which result from the use of psychiatric drugs.
Or ya can jut keep taking it .... cause it makes ya feel really good ....
It is fairly clear (to me at least) why a truck driver might want to use these type of drugs - either knowingly - or by allowing themselves to remain conveniently ignorant of what they are actually doing, relying on the advice of their drug pusher .... ahhh, I mean ..... good doctor ....
This all would actually be pretty funny .... if it weren't so sad ..... or so dangerous ...... the big mantra for the last 40 (or 100) years has been to not use drugs (.... "Just Say No" ...)
The reason for this is that it was (as in, used to be) widely understood that drug use, generally, isn't a healthy thing. Drugs aren't food or vitamins .... they are drugs. There are times when some drug use on limited basis might be warranted - simply because the alternative is alot worse. (A good example would be syphilis and penicillin)
And then along came the chemical companies and Big Pharma .......
The public however, at this point in time, has largely succumbed to a media and propaganda campaign (waged by big-money Pharma) that some drugs aren't really "drugs" .... or that some drugs are "better" than other drugs .... or that drugs are "good" (.... or at least aren't harmful) .... sort of a kind of "candy" .......... that makes ya "all better" ..... Interestingly, the "good drugs" just happen to be the ones that pharmaceutical companies manufacture and sell ..... and make billions of dollars on, every single year.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Psychiatry lists all "recognized" mental illnesses and disorders. It has been growing at an ever-increasing rate, listing more and more illnesses and disorders every year. Most people aren't even aware of how a so-called "psychiatric illness" or "disorder" becomes "officially" recognized as one. It isn't really from any actual scientific research (at least that a true scientist would recognize as being "scientific") - it's just that every year or so the APA (American Psychiatric Association) gets together and the members vote to include certain things (behaviors mostly) as so-called "illnesses" or "disorders" ........ medicine by committee ....... what a joke. A great way to create market for your services .... but a mighty poor way to practice medicine.
These aren't actually true illnesses as the general public would understand the term. There isn't a bacteria or virus that causes them. In fact, the psychs will be the first to tell you they don't truly know the cause (in other words they are just guessing) ..... although it is often said that the cause is a chemical imbalance in the brain. I have yet to see any study or medically recognized testing procedure, which actually shows a deficiency of any psych drug in anyone's system (And believe me - I've spent countless hours in university medical libraries in a former life looking through the research trying to find a study that shows or demonstrates "chemical imbalance") The reason for that is ....... bingo !!!!!!!! ..... there aren't any.
Or to meet a person who has had a brain biopsy done that showed they were deficient of a particular drug. (If this procedure were required prior to prescription of psych drugs, I suspect there would be a lot smaller market for psych drugs.)
What gets listed in the DSM are merely "observed phenomena" - examples of some type of human behavior - generally considered (by some at least, if not the person who is exhibiting it) to be "abnormal". Just because one can observe something and call it a name, does not mean that they are qualified to judge whether that behavior is "normal" or "abnormal" for any given individual, given that particular individual's physical state, experiences, and current life situation. To say nothing of being able to actually do anything effective to cure or treat it.
And ask yourself this - ever meet a psych that has said he can cure one of these diseases or disorders ? Probably never happen .... simply because, after a couple of hundred years of observation and so-called "treatment", and billions in government-funded research, these jokers can cure nothing. Besides, there's a lot more money in just "treating" something, as opposed to curing it. In fact, if you listen to them, they will tell you that mental illness is on the rise - that should immediately tell YOU about their effectiveness. If they were effective, mental illness would be on the decline. By their own mouths, they confess their incompetence.
Someone mentioned earlier in this thread that their kids were diagnosed in school. Since when has any school (usually an organ of the State) official been in the business of practicing medicine ? Would you take your truck to your lawyer or dentist to have an engine problem diagnosed ? Or have your doctor review a legal contract you are considering signing ?
Psychiatry itself is a barbaric practice. Examine it's history for yourself - it's all out there. Forcible drugging with mind-altering substances, forced incarceration, insulin shock "therapy", electro-convulsive shock "therapy", "deep sleep" therapy (where patients are put into a coma for weeks or months at a time, while being given electroshock therapy and mind destroying drugs), brain operations that destroy some portion and function of the brain, rampant sexual abuse of patients, and on and on.
If you have the guts to take an honest look, it's enough to make any rational, feeling human being puke.
Governments tend to be in favor of it and will fund it (not because it is effective in curing anything though - but because it makes people quieter, more compliant, easier to control)
Joe Stalin was a big fan of it - for all his detractors and opponents, of course.
Or just read "Mass Murders: Men in White Coats - The Men Behind Hitler" to see where old Adolph got his ideas from.
You want to know what these drugs do - consider but just these few examples:
T.J. Solomon - 15 year-old from Conyers, Georgia, shot six classmates in May 1999, on Ritalin;
Eric Harris - 18 year-old, one of the two Columbine killers, on anti-depressant Luvox;
Kip Kinkel - 15-year-old from Springfield, Oregon, who killed both his parents and two schoolmates, and wounded 20 other students in May 1998, - on anti-depressant Prozac;
Jarred Viktor - 16-year-old from California, convicted of murder - for stabbing his grandmother 61 times, on the anti-depressant Paxil;
Matt Miller - 13-year-old from Kansas committed suicide (he was found hanging in his closet) after taking the anti-depressant Zoloft ..... for just a week.
And there are hundreds upon hundreds .... even thousands ..... more.
And you want to trust these whack-jobs with the care and treatment of your or your childrens' minds ? ....... no thanks, I'll pass.