Magic drugs
Oct. 27th, 2021 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkEvery once in a while I read posts/accounts/experiences of people with ADHD online and think "hey, that all sounds very familiar;" to the point where I have looked up ADHD symptoms multiple times only to realize that I almost certainly don't have it, there's just a huge overlap between symptoms of ADHD, depression, and anxiety. "Shame," my stupid brain thought, "because if I did have it, I could get magic drugs to make my brain work better." (I know it doesn't work like that.) Only to remember that I do take magic drugs to make my brain work better, they're called antidepressants. …but I would like better magic drugs, that make all my brain problems go away. Hmpf. (I did talk to my psychiatrist not too long ago and my drug dose is fine/good enough that I really don't want to experiment rn.) Instead I get advice like "get enough sleep, liquids, iron, vitamins, and exercise," aka the slow way. I'm working on it, but magic would be so much more convenient.
So that got me thinking on the topic of healing spells for mental illnesses in fantasy settings. D&D has spells like "Heal" and "Greater Restoration" that removes "eliminates fatigue and exhaustion, and removes all forms of insanity, confusion, and similar mental effects." I'm pretty sure those were meant to be insanity and confusion that were created by magical effects in the first place, but would they also work on other forms? What about trauma etc.? (I bet there are quite a few powerful and/or rich people and workaholics who would try to abuse Greater Restoration to sleep less and work more, but maybe long-term that might have negative effects.) And if you only have magical spells against physical illnesses, would mental illnesses be taken more seriously or be even more stigmatized? Hm.
(If anyone knows of a canon that covers that topic I'd be interested in recs.)
So that got me thinking on the topic of healing spells for mental illnesses in fantasy settings. D&D has spells like "Heal" and "Greater Restoration" that removes "eliminates fatigue and exhaustion, and removes all forms of insanity, confusion, and similar mental effects." I'm pretty sure those were meant to be insanity and confusion that were created by magical effects in the first place, but would they also work on other forms? What about trauma etc.? (I bet there are quite a few powerful and/or rich people and workaholics who would try to abuse Greater Restoration to sleep less and work more, but maybe long-term that might have negative effects.) And if you only have magical spells against physical illnesses, would mental illnesses be taken more seriously or be even more stigmatized? Hm.
(If anyone knows of a canon that covers that topic I'd be interested in recs.)
no subject
Date: 2021-10-28 02:56 pm (UTC)There is more to recommend the whole series and I enjoy it overall.
Re: ADHD, I admit I am no expert, but these things can be co-morbid. Especially symptoms of ADHD for women are different than the "classic" symptoms. One profound thing is that the brain is differently wired and doesn't react the same way to the amphetamine class. One other chemical falling into this is caffeine, it calms ADHD brains down. https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-caffeine-treatment/ If you are unsure about whether it's just similar symptoms or not, that is a pretty good test, how does caffeine affect you?
no subject
Date: 2021-10-28 09:35 pm (UTC)I barely ever drink caffeine because I'm too worried about ending up like some of my colleagues who say they can't function without several cups a day (that seems... not ideal), but I don't think it has a big effect on me. Mostly I just have concentration problems, came across people saying that their ADHD medication made it so much easier for them to concentrate, and thought that a magical solution to improve concentration sounds really neat. (Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I don't have it, I really really don't "want" to have ADHD and don't envy anyone who has it at all, it's really just that easy solutions are a nice fantasy.)
no subject
Date: 2021-10-29 11:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-28 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-28 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-07 08:24 pm (UTC)The worldbuilding implications of healing magic like in D&D, Harry Potter & similar media is fascinating, because you can so tell the original developers didn't think things through when they came up with them. Like you said, what are the social consequences of these magics? How are illnesses and trauma, physical and mental, viewed by people when you literally can magic the problem away? Hell, in D&D you can magic away _death_! And are there illnesses that have developed as a consequences of these magics, kinda like bacteria resistant to antibiotics? Every time I homebrew a D&D setting, the topic of how magic affects how people deal with health (and hard labor, and resources, etc) is the one I usually snag on the longest XD
Sadly don't know any canon that explores the "magical cures" topic in any deeper sense, but if I stumble upon any I'll definitely share!