Young, Assured and Playing Pharmacist to Friends

By John M Grohol PsyD
November 16, 2005

Not happy with your current medications? Well it seems like some folks (I’m not sure I’d classify it a “sizeable group” as this report does) feel like they can do a better job choosing medications than a doctor. So they trade meds with others. The medications are all prescribed legally, just not to the person who’s taking them.

Frankly, I don’t find this all that surprising. It seems like a logical extension of what happens when pharmaceutical companies start advertising directly to patients, telling them to “ask their doctor” about medication X, Y, or Z. Empowered patients! Hey, they’re just taking it one more step in their road to empowerment.

For a sizable group of people in their 20’s and 30’s, deciding on their own what drugs to take - in particular, stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric medications - is becoming the norm. Confident of their abilities and often skeptical of psychiatrists’ expertise, they choose to rely on their own research and each other’s experience in treating problems like depression, fatigue, anxiety or a lack of concentration. A medical degree, in their view, is useful, but not essential, and certainly not sufficient.

They trade unused prescription drugs, get medications without prescriptions from the Internet and, in some cases, lie to doctors to obtain medications that in their judgment they need.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues, and the intersection of technology and psychology since 1992.