You’re happy you have the job – okay – a job. You work your fanny off, responding via text, email, phone, Facebook, tweet and who cares if it’s at 3 a.m.? It’s all part of today’s business culture and what’s not only expected, but the new norm.
So how do busy professionals measure up? With an ounce of prevention of course. Managers and C-Suites pound-the-pavement, 24 hours a day and seven days a week without ever really shutting off. What’s the backlash in behavior? A quick fix for the short-term? Perhaps, though it’s become a long-term problem.
Performance Anxiety Has a New Name
The workforce has changed since the 1966 release of the Rolling Stones’ “Mother’s Little Helper.” While many moms have left their domestic office to become a vital part of the executive pool, all genders can certainly croon, “What a drag it is getting old.”
However, the word old is not so much the concern for age discrimination, but of vitality – there’s a difference. The great fear of professionals is being labeled as “stale.” What’s even worse is the workforce’s way to resolve it and that’s where this story reaches a stalemate.
Can-Do Attitude
There are two dangerous words in the world of upper management: “I – can’t.” One could always provide the alternative response: “I – won’t,” said no ladder-climbing-professional, ever. It’s a career death sentence because as an executive, you CAN-DO the impossible. Just take two of these and call me in the morning … Aha! The fix-all dirty little secret: executive Adderall abuse.
Have It All with Adderall
Check the briefcases, purses and desk drawers of savvy professionals and chances are pretty good you’ll find a prescription for Adderall. Commonly recommended for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the stimulant is widely used as the go-to survival antidote to corporate pressures.
The need for a pill pop to keep up is more than an affliction of the few, but outright business ethos. The substance intake starts off innocently, escalating over time.
In a recent study by Quest Diagnostics, 11 million U.S. workers participated in a drug screen. Compared to the prior decade, positive drug test results increased drastically. What rated the second-highest in use next to marijuana were amphetamines, including Adderall.
The ‘Study Drug’ Moves from College to Office Space
The executive Adderall abuse begins, for some, during undergraduate or graduate school days when the workload is long and the required studying is even longer. Students with ADHD who have every reason to take the medication often sell some of their pills to other students as a means to financial gain. (A college student can only eat so much ramen.)
Once the finals are over and the thesis papers are turned in, the need is over – until they reach the high-powered world of sales, management and workforce performance measurability.
Image Is Everything
With the unsavory rise of today’s perfection matrix (social media), professionals know that it isn’t enough to perform the functions of their job exceedingly well. They have to look the part.
In an anonymous interview with an external executive employment recruiter, it was revealed that hiring managers are willing to step over legal lines to find that just-right fit. Image is everything. Job candidates know this and they do what they can to look the part.
Much like cocaine use in the 1980s, Adderall can curb appetite. Once ingested, the user can go for long periods of time without feeling hunger, though increasing the need for hydration. Weight management or weight loss is more of a by-product of the drug use. More prevalent reasons for executive use are centered within the need to speed up productivity – pun intended.
Corporate Drug Culture Alive and Kickin’
Numbers don’t lie, people do. With that kind of pressure, professionals need to come up with creative ways to perform at optimum levels by working smarter, not harder.
With executive Adderall abuse, managers and executives feel they can:
- Focus Better
- Work Faster and Longer
- Multitask Effectively
- Feel Limitless
Everyone Has ADHD
If you were to ask the professionals using Adderall if they have ADHD, a resounding “yes” would reverberate from the corporate hallways. In fact, many of them who work for the same company are referred to the same prescribing doctor, not because they all have the same neurodevelopmental disorder. However, they do have the same crazed, unrealistic level of expected job performance. Adderall is the accepted fix.
The physician will see the new patient one time for a lengthy psychoanalysis. Adderall will be prescribed for 90 days. Every three months, there is 15-minute psyche evaluation and the Adderall prescription is most likely refilled. However, what is seldom talked about is how the executive is really feeling.
Adderall Abuse Symptoms
By now, you might be wondering whether you, or someone you know, has a problem. Let’s make things a little clearer. Just ask these questions about the executive Adderall abuse:
- Is the element of success dependent on using?
- Is it obtained illegally?
- Is it part of a daily routine?
- Is the day planned around its use?
- Is it used socially?
- Is the use kept secret to all, except for other users?
Adderall Abuse Side Effects
The side effects of executive Adderall abuse are voluminous. Some of the most startling examples include:
- Irritability
- Anxiousness
- Fearfulness
- Increased Thirst
- Broken Sleep or Insomnia
- Diminished Sexual Desire
- No Appetite
- Weight Loss
- Hair Loss
- Heart Palpitations
- Increased Blood Pressure
- Shakiness
- Digestive Issues
- Dizziness
Risky Business
For breakfast, there’s coffee. Mid-morning snack, more coffee. For lunch, who needs lunch? Dinner includes schmoozing it up with your corporate buddies at the latest trendsetting foodie joint.
If you’re lucky, the heart palpitations, sweats, unquenchable thirst and too-fast-for-words brain activity calms down long enough for sleep to enter the picture – only to start all over again at sunrise. Are we having fun yet?
Buzz Kill
Sure, life is good when you’re “hitting goal” at the office and your numbers are off the charts.
Now here’s the cold hard truth: You can’t perform on the job if you’re off-site in the ICU or a drug detox facility, though you might be a hit on social media. In addition, while Adderall use might be part of your unspoken corporate culture, don’t think for a second that your boss, human resources or the stockholders will appreciate your commitment to being a “yes-person.”
If you’re lucky, and that’s a big IF, you’ll be awarded a second chance that includes a proverbial slap on the wrist and time in counseling sessions. More than likely, the punitive action against you will conform to your company’s formal drug policy or what the federal drug policy is, whichever is the more stringent of the two. Job dismissal? It’s possible. Public humility? Most probable.
Drug Policies Are a Double-Edged Sword
Most drug policies are put into place with the intent of protecting the employee but are often more about CYA for the corporation. All companies should have a drug-free workplace policy in place per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance, though it isn’t mandatory. Considering the associated risks, why wouldn’t you?
Risks of on-the-job drug use include:
- Injury/Death to Self
- Injury/Death to Others
- Property Damage
- Security Breach (Company or Pubic)
- Cancellation of Business Contracts
- Negative Public Image
- Lawsuits (Civil and Criminal)
- Business Closure
In fact, some states provide a reduction in insurance premiums for companies that elect to have drug-free workplace policies. Although drug testing is not required by law per se, guidelines run the gamut, from no testing at all to a pre-hire drug screen or random drug testing throughout the employee’s work term. It depends on the company and the type of work involved.
Executive Adderall Abuse Has Long Arms
Many people do business beyond the walls of company headquarters: at the airport, in cars, coffee shops, night spots, etc. So wherever business gets done and drug use is part of the game plan, who is liable in the event of injury, death or property damage? The employee? The company?
Adderall use might make you feel limitless – the damage done is limitless too. At this point, the executives’ dirty little secret is out of the bag.
The only way to combat executive Adderall abuse is with an executive rehab. The Dunes East Hampton offers a luxury rehab experience that combines substance abuse treatment with holistic treatment, equine therapy, and spiritual counseling.