Do we medicate brilliant minds to mediocrity?

The mind is one of the greatest puzzles we have been given to solve. People have been trying to figure it for hundreds of years. Early scientists tried their best to diagnose and treat mental illness but often it was misunderstood as a physical ailment instead of, well, a mental one. That’s why we had strange treatments like shock therapy and lobotomy.

Today we may not have all the answers, but we do have less-horrific methods of treating mental illness. We may even rely on drugs more than therapy. I personally have never taken any antidepressants nor was I one of the many kids who took ADHD meds in grade school. I’m always fascinated to hear people’s opinions on the drugs they have used. Some people believe it was the best thing for them and others feel as though it dulled their senses and ambitions.

It makes me wonder if we wouldn’t be better struggling through our problems instead of medicating for them. For example, scientists wanted to know why some people were more resilient to PTSD than others. After doing to research, they came to the conclusion that slightly traumatic (not full-on tragic) childhoods prepared children for the stressful events they would face in the future as an adult.

Isn’t it then possible that by medicating someone to pay attention in class we may be hindering the same brilliance that could create great art, literature, or solve societal problems? Of course, it’s nothing that could be easily studied, and like most things it would likely turn out to be that there is no simple answer. That being said, it is something interesting to think about.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *