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Journals / İmgelem / 2026 / Sayı: 19

Expert Views on the Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants: Between Enhancement and Everyday Coping

Reçeteli Uyarıcıların Tıbbi Olmayan Kullanımına Dair Uzman Görüşleri: Geliştirme ile Gündelik Baş Etme Arasında

Selin Atalay(İzmir Bakırçay Üniversitesi)0000-0002-7095-6396
Journal
İmgelem
Pages
431–460
Publication Date
2026-05-31
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

While based on expert interviews conducted in Australia, the findings offer analytically transferable insights into broader global discussions on performance pressure, pharmaceutical reliance, and contemporary forms of self-management.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study explores the motivations behind nonmedical use of prescription stimulants.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Situated within the broader context of neoliberal societies, the study approaches nonmedical stimulant use as a socially embedded strategy for coping with intensified demands for productivity, performance, and self-management in everyday life.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:While based on expert interviews conducted in Australia, the findings offer analytically transferable insights into broader global discussions on performance pressure, pharmaceutical reliance, and contemporary forms of self-management.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Farmasötikalizasyon · Kültürel İyatrojenez · Reçeteli Uyarıcılar

Abstract

This study explores the motivations behind nonmedical use of prescription stimulants. Situated within the broader context of neoliberal societies, the study approaches nonmedical stimulant use as a socially embedded strategy for coping with intensified demands for productivity, performance, and self-management in everyday life. Drawing on insights from Australian experts from different disciplines, the study aims to present a broad understanding of how medications originally intended for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are utilized by individuals. Expert views on potential harm, access pathways and governmental approaches are analyzed. According to many of the experts interviewed, occasional or low dose nonmedical use can be seen less as a major health threat and more as an individual strategy for coping with demands of everyday life. Experts voice various concerns including the possibility of dependence, pressures created by competitive environments, unequal access to these substances, and the expanding presence of pharmaceuticals in daily life. The study contributes to sociological debates on medicalization and pharmaceuticalization by showing how nonmedical stimulant use can be interpreted as a practice of everyday coping rather than exceptional enhancement. By using concepts from medical sociology - medicalization, pharmaceuticalization, cultural iatrogenesis, biopower, politics of life - the study shows that stimulant use cannot be separated from the broader social and cultural conditions that shape people’s choices. While based on expert interviews conducted in Australia, the findings offer analytically transferable insights into broader global discussions on performance pressure, pharmaceutical reliance, and contemporary forms of self-management.

Özet

Bu çalışma, reçeteli uyarıcıların tıbbi olmayan kullanımının arkasındaki motivasyonları incelemektedir. Çalışma, neoliberal toplumların daha geniş bağlamı içinde tıbbi olmayan uyarıcı kullanımını, gündelik yaşamda artan üretkenlik, performans ve öz yönetim talepleriyle baş etmeye yönelik bir toplumsal strateji olarak ele almaktadır. Avustralya’da farklı disiplinlerden gelen uzmanların görüşlerinden yararlanarak çalışma, dikkat eksikliği ve hiperaktivite bozukluğunun tedavisi için geliştirilmiş ilaçların bireyler tarafından nasıl farklı şekillerde kullanıldığını geniş bir çerçevede anlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmada uzmanların olası zararlar, erişim yolları ve devlet yaklaşımlarına ilişkin değerlendirmeleri analiz edilmektedir. Görüşülen birçok uzmana göre, ara sıra veya düşük dozlarda gerçekleşen tıbbi olmayan kullanım, büyük bir sağlık tehdidinden ziyade bireylerin gündelik yaşamın talepleriyle başa çıkma stratejilerinden biri olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Kullanıcı anlatılarından ziyade uzman çerçevelerini merkeze alan bu çalışma, tıbbileştirme ve farmasötikalizasyon tartışmalarına katkı sunarak, reçeteli uyarıcıların tıbbi olmayan kullanımının istisnai bir geliştirme (enhancement) pratiğinden çok gündelik bir baş etme biçimi olarak nasıl yorumlanabileceğini göstermektedir. Çalışmada, tıbbi sosyolojiden kavramlar (tıbbileştirme, farmasötikalizasyon, kültürel iyatrojenez, biyoiktidar, yaşamın politikası) kullanılarak, uyarıcı madde kullanımının bireysel tercihlerden bağımsız ele alınamayacağı, bu tercihlerin daha geniş toplumsal ve kültürel koşullar tarafından şekillendirildiği ortaya konulmaktadır. Çalışma Avustralya’da gerçekleştirilen uzman görüşmelerine dayansa da bulgular performans baskısı, ilaçlara yönelik bağımlılık ve güncel öz yönetim biçimlerine ilişkin küresel tartışmalar için içgörüler sunmaktadır.

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Cite This Article

Atalay, S. (2026). Expert Views on the Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants: Between Enhancement and Everyday Coping. İmgelem, Sayı: 19, 431–460. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1870183

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