Take Your Pills (2018)

April 7, 2018 4:46 PM

Official description: "Every era gets the drug it deserves. In America today, where competition is ceaseless from school to the workforce and everyone wants a performance edge, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are the defining drugs of this generation."

This Netflix documentary attempts to put the rise in Adderall use into cultural context.

posted by lunasol (2 comments total)

OK, I kind of hated this, but in a way that I want to talk about with mefites. As someone with ADHD, I thought it was telling that the voiceover that opened the film (a young woman talking about how Adderall feels when it hits her bloodstream, and how you have to keep taking more of it to have the same effect) seemed to be by someone who probably doesn't actually have ADHD (ADHD meds are not supposed to have that effect if you actually have it), and it was annoying that the film seemed so unconcerned with the role of ADHD meds in the lives of people who, you know, actually have it.

I also rolled my eyes when the first "expert" quoted was not a neuroscientist, or a psychiatrist, or a psychologist or even, like, a sociologist, but ... a political theorist. (Nothing against political theorists, but c'mon)

At the same time, I did think the point the filmmaker was trying to make was interesting - the idea that ADHD drugs have become so much more popular because people are under a lot more pressure to perform is an interesting one. I just wish they'd been less sensationalistic about it.
posted by lunasol at 4:57 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

I kind of want to talk about this too, being a bit opinionated about my own AD/HD. But I wasn't going to watch it until I'd heard about what was in it, and since hearing I now definitely won't watch it. I just couldn't stomach how angry/frustrated I'd get.

I had been feeling thankful the mass-culture hand-wringing articles about med fear had seemingly become passé, but I guess not entirely.
posted by traveler_ at 10:02 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]