For anyone following this thread--I checked on this issue-it is a myth. This information is available on so many credible sources, but here is Psych Central's take on it:
Surprising? Stimulants Help People Be More Focused | World of Psychology
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He also called out the myth perpetrated by Schwarz — that ADHD medications like Adderall and Ritalin work one way in people with ADHD, but in a different way in people without ADHD. This is not true, and you’d think a NY Times writer (or his editors) would catch that.
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Quote:
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For years, it was assumed that stimulants had paradoxical calming effects in ADHD patients, whereas stimulating ‘normal’ individuals and producing locomotor activation in rats. It is now known that low doses of stimulants focus attention and improve executive function in both normal and ADHD subjects. Furthermore, the seminal work of Kuczenski and Segal showed that low, oral doses of methylphenidate reduce locomotor activity in rats as well.
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I cannot believe doctors still think this myth is true and will use this in making diagnostic decisions. They have a responsibility to keep up with research; at least the major findings. And this is a huge change.
I know I am jaded at this point-I am just so sick of incompetence in this industry, while the same are overly focused on judging those who are greatly helped by these medications as "drug seekers" (scroll down for the comments by Joel Hassman, MD, raging that people asking for this drug are morally wrong)* . It really adversely affects peoples' lives. And yet they demand such high fees.
*I do think this condition is way over diagnosed, but I wonder how much of this is due to physician incompetence rather than the 'drug seekers' asking for stimulants. And maybe people seek these drugs because *serotonin* is not the only culprit for depression, and these drugs make them feel like a normal human being.
I know for me, except for one occasion of the onset of PTSD, drugs that target dopamine (not serotonin) are the only ones that have helped over the years. The serotonin hypothesis was founded by accident, not through the scientific method. And for years, the industry did not bother to develop novel antidepressants.
ADD drugs were actually the first antidepressants at the turn of the century. But there was little profit connected with amphetamines.