Beliefs Regarding Stimulant Medication Effects Among College Students With a History of Past or Current Usage

Abstract

To understand decisions regarding stimulant use, it is important to consider how college students perceive the positive and negative effects of the medication with respect to sense of self and social relationships.

Pharmacological interventions for ADHD: how do adolescent and adult patient beliefs and attitudes impact treatment adherence?

“…Pillow et al 43 conducted a survey with 193 university students, ranging in age from 18–28 years, who had a self-reported diagnosis of attention deficit disorder or ADHD and a history of stimulant treatment. The survey had been developed by the study authors based on previous unpublished work.…”

“…The authors report that “loss of authentic self” differentiated between those who continued treatment and those who stopped medication, whereas “common side effects” such as loss of appetite and difficulty in sleeping did not. 43 …”

The Perils of Using Electrical Stimulation to Change Human Brains

“…Moreover, and contrary to popular thought, existing PCEs are only modestly successful at enhancing cognitive skills (Greely, 2010;Ilieva, Boland, & Farah, 2012;Smith & Farah, 2011). Already, brain stimulation technologies might be more effective (Cohen Kadosh et al, 2010;Floel et al, 2008;Marshall, 2004;Ukueberuwa & Wassermann, 2010) -and less valueladen or stigmatized (Forlini & Racine, 2011;Franke, Lieb, & Hildt, 2012;Heinrichs, 2012;Outram, 2012;Pillow, Naylor, & Malone, 2012) -than PCEs we might develop in the near future. To be sure, selfmedication of individuals using drugs such as methylphenidate intended for the treatment of ADHD without the requisite prescription is, in some ways, akin to DIY tDCS: both scenarios feature an untutored individual making a decision about changing his or her brain using technology without the supervision of a medical professional.…”

Self-Management of Adherence to Prescribed Stimulants in College Students With ADD/ADHD

“…These participants were divided into those who had stopped taking their prescribed medication and those who were continuing to take their medication as prescribed. Beliefs about the medication were divided into four main areas: (a) improved attention/academics (IAA), (b) loss of authentic self (LAS), (c) social self-enhancement (SSE), and (d) common side effects (CSE; Pillow et al, 2014). Pillow et al (2014) found that, similar to past research (McCarthy, 2014), the use of stimulant medication was seen as a trade-off, where the user is constantly balancing perceived costs and benefits.…”

“…Beliefs about the medication were divided into four main areas: (a) improved attention/academics (IAA), (b) loss of authentic self (LAS), (c) social self-enhancement (SSE), and (d) common side effects (CSE; Pillow et al, 2014). Pillow et al (2014) found that, similar to past research (McCarthy, 2014), the use of stimulant medication was seen as a trade-off, where the user is constantly balancing perceived costs and benefits. Participants who were currently taking medication believed that taking the medication would result in IAA and SSE.…”