Socrates once declared that medicine “acts as both a remedy and a poison”. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more accurate statement in reference to medication. Over 70% of Americans, according to The American Spectator, take at least one prescription drug. Dr. Richard Saul, author of ADHD Doesn’t Exist stated: there is no doubt that the symptoms – an inability to pay attention to details, fidgeting, interrupting, difficulty staying seated, impulsive behavior – exist. But to lump them together and turn them into a diagnosis of ADHD then to treat this so-called condition with stimulants, is like treating the symptoms of a heart attack – such as severe chest pain – with painkillers, rather than tackling the cause of them repairing the heart.

This doesn’t even begin to cover the fact that medication costs money. For a lot of households, money doesn’t come super easy. So when a child is immediately diagnosed with some disease and told they need medication, keeping up with adding another cost adds stress to the rest of the house. Rather than attempting to deal with the issue at the core, which would save money in the long term, we instead prescribe a drug and hope it works. And if this additional cost leads to further stress to the household, who says they won’t be diagnosed with an anxiety or stress disorder which then would lead to them needing medication. It becomes a never ending domino effect.

So why is it that our first instinct is to medicate rather than get to the heart of the problem? We seem to have become a society that fears talking about things we don’t understand. Instead of trying to talk through deep problems and work through them, we are quick to prescribe an anti-depressant. Instead of working with a child who can’t concentrate and never wants to sit down, we diagnose them with ADHD and prescribe them with Adderall. While there are always extreme cases, so many can be dealt with without the use of medication. Doesn’t it say something if the side effects of a drug are the same things we’re trying to cure? Addiction, depression, suicide, social alienation, overdose, insomnia. These are only a few side effects of prescription drugs trying to cure exactly what the side effect is.

Maybe part of the reason for the overuse of medication is America’s over-obsession with the idea of being perfect. We live in a society where everyone seems to be encouraged to keep their problems to themselves and keep it within the family. To do this, a few prescriptions might be written to achieve the idea of normalcy. As I said earlier, over 70% of Americans take at least one prescription daily. Just over 50% of Americans take two prescriptions daily. While some of these can be linked to medical conditions such as diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, etc. Many of these prescriptions are directly related to mental diseases that can be helped in ways other than pills. According to the Mayo Clinic, the most common pills taken are antibiotics, antidepressants, and painkillers. There is really no way of getting around the antibiotics. Unless you rely solely on oils and tea, which isn’t really recommended, you’ll probably end up on an antibiotic. Depression, however, is one of the most diagnosed diseases in America. At some point in time, everyone has felt lonely and sad. In today’s world, if you’re not happy and loving life 24/7, you’re depressed.

So what do all these pills mean for our brains? This mainly affects children as they grow up with a reliance to medications. When a kid grows up exposed to medications for an extended period of time, their brain becomes accustomed to those drugs and thinks it needs them when in reality, it’s only because it has been so reliant on them. This reliance only leads to the inability to get away from the addiction to over-medication. The child’s brain hasn’t learned to function without these pills which means, the longer they’re on the medication, the harder it becomes to move them away from it.

You might be thinking that as long as someone remains on their prescribed medication, it doesn’t matter if they’re on it indefinitely because they’ll never miss it. But what about when the prescribed dosage isn’t enough anymore? You might also argue that a person can remain on pills for their entire life and have it never be an issue. It has become a lot easier to simply treat a disease rather than cure it. So rather than living off of pills, why wouldn’t we do everything in our power to put an end to the disease – mental or physical. Treating rather than curing is the same as putting a band aid on a gash that needs stitches and expecting it to heal itself.