With the end of the pandemic COVID-19 public health emergency set to expire on May 11, I have not seen much reflection on what most psychiatrist already knew - that throwing stimulants at everyone with a focus, motivation, distraction issue is not the answer. "Wouldn't everyone be better on a stimulant, who wouldn't want more energy, to get more done, make more money and to loose weight?".

With all the pill mill NP/PA online apps being dismantled, the answer has been for the NP/PA to rent a room somewhere and keep prescribing stimulants without abandon, the using Seroquel and Abilify for the anxiety. Wash it down with benzos when the antipsychotics cause EPS. So we put the entire country on stimulants until we ran out and guess what - people are so much worse. All our problems did not disappear.

Everyone I now see who saw a NP on a app on their phone who gave them a stimulant and they are not better, think that the problem must be the manufacturer of the pill or that they need a different pill. They have never heard of the psychological or social influences on mental health. So they think the NP was right because they never had to face anything that made them uncomfortable and their NP was down to earth and listened to them, did not drug test them or try to engage them, so I am the A-hole trying to actually treat their attention disorder appropriately knowing that even when medications are dialed in, the medication is only 1/3 of the solution (Bio-psycho-social model).

How has everyone been dealing with this and why is it not reflected more about what we now truly know what would happen if everyone was on a stimulant?