Abstract
The consumption of stimulating drugs has grown in recent years in Brazil and worldwide. People of all ages, especially children and adolescents, started to use stimulants as the main therapy used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this context, stimulants such as amphetamines and methylphenidate, better known by the trade names Adderall and Ritalin, have gained social visibility due to the association of these psychoactive drugs with the improvement of psychic functions such as attention and the increase in quality and performance time of subjects in the most varied activities. As a result, the demand for these stimulants has also increased by people who are not undergoing medical treatment, but who seek to improve their performance in the activities they perform. Given this scenario, this article aimed to demonstrate how the growth in the consumption of stimulants, whether by subjects undergoing medical treatment or not, is related to the hegemonic socialization processes in capitalist societies today. Articulating the context presented with the concepts of Lacanian psychoanalysis, it was possible to conclude that the massive consumption of stimulants is related to the processes of pathologization and medicalization of existence, set in motion by an articulation between the medical-scientific discourse and the capitalist discourse in contemporary times.
Keywords:
Performance Pathologies; Stimulants; Lacanian Psychoanalysis; Medicalization