Sublime

In medicating ourselves to adapt to the world, what kind of world are we settling for? Under the guise of treating pain and mental illness, are we rendering large segments of the population biochemically indifferent to intolerable circumstance? Worse yet, have psychotropic medications become a means of social control, especially of the poor, unempl

My desire for a solution that was private and personal—the psychological equivalent of a pill—was in fact a symptom of the mindset that had caused my depression and anxiety in the first place.

It wasn’t just a bad event that caused depression—it was also long-term sources of stress.

By interviewing them, I learned that they don’t agree on even the most basic questions—including whether ADHD actually exists in the way most people have been told it does, as a biological illness.

One of the people who most helped me to understand some aspects of these questions was Professor Joel Nigg, who I interviewed at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Most people, she said, “learn focus by doing something that is either very important or very interesting to them.”

Mihaly made the case for “positive psychology”: that we should primarily focus on the things that make life worth living, and find ways to boost them.

“the way humans are designed is to have downtime and [then] you will be more productive.”

All children—indeed, all people—given Ritalin focus and pay attention better for a while. The fact the drug works isn’t evidence that you had an underlying biological problem all along—it’s just proof that you are taking a stimulant.