My complaint:
At first I was excited to watch Take Your Pills because I thought it was going to talk about the stigma around ADHD medication (like it claims to) but after sitting through the 90 minutes I started sobbing out of anger. This documentary talks about the dangers of taking Adderall and other ADDADHD med which, in theory, is good but this documentary did not tell the facts, told straight up lies at some points, and is extremely harmful to people with ADDADHD who want to be treated with medication. I have ADHD and got put on the right dose of medication and I don’t experience any of the highs or extreme come downs making you want more because I. HAVE. THE. RIGHT. DOSE. All the fears that this movie talks about are real issues but so over dramatized and if you do any research a quick google search will tell you that the drug dependencies stem from over prescribing people, which the documentary did not talk about at all. I’m not saying that everyone should me medicated because it works for some people and doesn’t work for others and that ok! Whats not ok is scaring people into not getting the medication they need. I was diagnosed when I was 15 and what they failed to talk about in the documentary is how hard it is to be 5 steps behind everyone else. I constantly had to work twice as hard to get half as far and it lead to feeling of worthlessness, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, anorexia, and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. I would have horrible mood swings that I could be laughing and having so much fun with my friends to completely shutting down and isolating myself from the converstation because I convinced myself everyone hates me. I would also get extremely angry and something as simple as chewing and feel the need to punch someone. That leads to reckless behaviors and not thinking things through clearly because of the flood of emotions so i would act on it, get in trouble, feel terribly guilty for days or even weeks later obsessing over that one mistake and beating myself up because of it. I take a small dose of Adderall and it doesn’t really help my focus in an extreme way, it doesn’t make me smarter (if anything it helps me to reach my full potential), but what it does is stabilize my moods. yes there are downsides for example I’m not as chatty as I am when I’m off it, but i don’t interrupt people while they talk. Take Your Pills shows ADDADHD to make it look like we are cheating by taking these pills just to help us focus and be smarter. Thats not what ADHD is, the focus is one part of the disorder and the right medication with the right dose helps in ways that make we feel more normal. On medication I’m still creative but in a more organized way because I can actually hear myself think for once instead of having my thought go all over the place and being constantly overwhelmed, confused, and frequently loosing my train of thought in the middle of a sentence. This documentary show all the worst parts, then over dramatizes it, and sprinkle some lies on top to make it seem evil and that we are cheating and don’t need it. Technically we do need it because our brains are literally built different than neurotypical people and medications help specific parts of the brain connect. This documentary isn’t even a documentary. You can tell absolutely no real research was put into it and its extremly harmful because people will believe it which adds to the stigma, meaning less people getting diagnosed, meaning less people getting help and getting treated (wether it be cognitive therapy or medication or both), meaning more people struggling and failing and asking themselves why cant I just be normal. Also quite frankly its offensive. I am a high school student and I know more about this disorder then a WHOLE movie production. You should be embarrassed and ashamed. I’m so grateful that my parents didn’t see this movie before I got diagnosed because they probably wouldn’t even have taken me to a therapist or doctor to even ask about it and I probably would have been dead by now. shame on you.
Suggested solution:
Take down this movie right now and put out a statement with the facts. At least take it down so you don't harmfully effect other naive people. I think its great to talk about the danger of giving meds too early and substance abuse but this documentary had 0 facts in it and thats ridiculous.
