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Comment by breezybottom | Hacker News Reader

Yes, the medicalization of normal human experiences is lamentable. But grant money doesn't appear without diseases for pharma to treat.

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Strange take. If it's normal to spend 12 hours not eating staring at a screen trying to solve 1 problem and completely oblivious to the outside world then I guess I don't know many normal people.

We'd still be living in caves if there weren't people like that.

At the same time if it significantly hinders you in everyday life it's nice to have a way to break free of it. I can't take most ADHD medications due to unrelated issues and it's such a shame after hearing / witnessing first hand how much it can genuinely change a person's life for the better.

I would absolutely consider medication but 2 of my 3 siblings were meth heads likely in part trying to address the same thing in a path that ought to be legal and cleaner, but that's a different conversation.

Anyway, not touching ADHD drugs given how easily I can convince myself 2+ drinks is a fantastic idea. So, TLDR 100% not going here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/09/extract

Having a label for a recognized and observable human condition does not condemn it. And it also doesn’t mean that we ought to medicate anyone with a label.

What it means is some people are able to potentially improve their lives by recognizing a pattern of behavior and educating themselves about strategies (including medication) that might help.

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