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Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

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Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#31

Post by paloaltokid »

bks wrote: post #24

In life, we all have blind spots. Things that are obvious to others with more experience but may be invisible to ourselves. But it may have been a helpful suggestion from the manager based on observation or personal experience that the OP might have some attention deficit issues that may or may not be improved with medication. Hanlon's razor may apply here also.

It doesn’t matter if the manager was intending to be helpful. You don’t suggest to an employee that they start taking drugs, full stop. The furthest you can go is to suggest medical diagnosis.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#32

Post by rhombocombus »

In a manager/report relationship I think it is inappropriate, but I had a colleague suggest I begin taking ADHD medication in grad school and it changed my life. Without knowing your relationship with your manager I can't speak to the appropriateness other than to say you shouldn't bring that up, but I have had very close relationships with some of my managers where I might have approached that level of honesty/vulnerability to make them feel like that was appropriate.

All of that aside, your manager is not a physician and you are free to ignore anything they say regarding your health. I would still reflect on why they might have said that and whether you are struggling in your role.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#33

Post by Nursie »

bks wrote: post #24

In life, we all have blind spots. Things that are obvious to others with more experience but may be invisible to ourselves. But it may have been a helpful suggestion from the manager based on observation or personal experience that the OP might have some attention deficit issues that may or may not be improved with medication. Hanlon's razor may apply here also.

Take stimulants so you can work harder for us. Yup, just some friendly advice.

However well intended, it's so wrong.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#34

Post by itronitron »

dr_robert wrote: post #12
hatenberg wrote: post #8

Fireable offense in some environments. Big tech company or startup?

Big company at that time. 14k employees when i left.

Yeah, any manager making a comment like that puts the company in legal peril for a number of reasons, the main one being that if they thought you needed some form of medical treatment and didn't follow through on making that happen then the company can be held liable.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#36

Post by runawaybottle »

eindiran wrote: post #29
RNase wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Methylphenidate is not a nootropic. If you are wondering if amphetamines and their friends improve your work output, the answer is yes, yes they do. They won't make you smarter though.

I mean, by that definition of nootropic there are no nootropics lol. From Wikipedia: "Nootropics are drugs, supplements, and other substances that may improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals." So CNS stimulants like methylphenidate (which definitely increase motivation in healthy individuals) are nootropics by that definition. https://en.…

It’s a drug on the more potent end of the spectrum, it isn’t benign. Take a few, you won’t even need to wonder ‘I wonder if this is a nootropic’.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#37

Post by rhombocombus »

runawaybottle wrote: post #15

That stuff is highly addictive. Honest to god, if he suggested it, most likely he takes it too. Get out of there, his expectations are based around people abusing speed, which means he basically expects some unhealthy output. Remember kids, all drugs work, until they don’t. You can always take more I guess.

There are millions of people who take those medications as prescribed without addiction or dependence. If you are going off label then you have a problem, but in many cases these medications can make the difference between a successful life and a disastrous one.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#38

Post by bllguo »

paloaltokid wrote: post #28
LZ_Khan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it unsolicited? If the poster confided to his boss that he has focus issues, his boss might have just been trying to offer a solution (albeit a bad one). I don't see what's unethical about this.

It’s still not appropriate for a manager who is not acting in a medical capacity to make that kind of recommendation. It’s a huge huge leap to go from “I feel like your focus needs improvement” to “go get an amphetamine prescription because I feel you are not working hard enough.”

I agree that it's inappropriate, but it seems like an equally huge leap to go from that to "your days are numbered" when we don't have any other context.

Of course our reactions are heavily biased towards our personal experiences. If my manager said something like that to me I'd laugh it off as a bad joke or a poorly executed gesture with good intentions.

Re: Ask HN: My manager suggested me to start taking Ritalin

#39

Post by runawaybottle »

rhombocombus wrote: post #37
runawaybottle wrote: post #15

That stuff is highly addictive. Honest to god, if he suggested it, most likely he takes it too. Get out of there, his expectations are based around people abusing speed, which means he basically expects some unhealthy output. Remember kids, all drugs work, until they don’t. You can always take more I guess.

There are millions of people who take those medications as prescribed without addiction or dependence. If you are going off label then you have a problem, but in many cases these medications can make the difference between a successful life and a disastrous one.

Of course. So there’s the nice way to talk about this (which is how you are talking about it), and then there’s the real way to talk about it - you know like how a manager in our industry casually suggest you take up a schedule 2 drug. This stuff is abused pretty rampantly.
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