“Hi, I’m a rising Hollywood star and need to keep the weight off, any suggestions?”

Sure, try the new fad prescription that all the Hollywood stars are using — Adderall! Yes, that fantastic treatment for ADHD also can help you keep slim and lose those unwanted pounds.

The downside to these off-label prescriptions?

None that we can see! Heck, if it’s safe for kids with ADHD, it should be just about safe for anyone.

Oh, wait, there may be a few problems after all…

“I find the use of Adderall for weight loss particularly troubling,” says June Stevens, chair of the department of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “So many of our youth take Adderall for attention deficit disorder. I fear it may lead to eating disorders and dependency on the drug as a weight loss aid.”

So the Adderall may lead to eating disorders? I’m not sure I understand… The person who’s taking the Adderall for weight control apparently already believes they have a weight issue. So this sounds like demonizing the “treatment of the moment” while not addressing the real societal problem — idolizing Hollywood stars as role models.

So let’s stop blaming the drug and put the blame squarely where it belongs — at the feet of a society that believes it’s more important to follow every movement of Britney Spears or whoever, than to care about how our children will pay for the impossible debts of Medicare and Social Security 20 or 30 years from now.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Mar 2008
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