I don’t think it’s overstated. It’s just one of those things where some people can’t handle it and end up in a serious downward spiral but others stick to therapeutic use that positively changes their whole life, so the latter group always has to prove they’re not in the former group.

Everyone I knew in uni was on Adderall XR and some people overdid it, like making these crazy manic posts on Facebook and staying cracked out for days on a train of big redoses. There are real risks.

And because of that, any time I go to a new doctor, I have to deal with them side eyeing me as I try to prove to them I’m not just a pill seeking junkie even though I’ve been taking it for 15 years. It can be so dehumanizing, like I’m a child of a parent that goes to see if I really did clean my room like I said I did.