Science is supposed to be about discovery, about challenging what we think we know and constantly evolving based on new evidence. That’s what drew me to it in the first place—the understanding that no theory is ever proven with absolute certainty. Yet, when it comes to medicine, we see the exact opposite. Instead of embracing new information and questioning outdated methods, the medical industry clings to the same old treatments, many of which prioritize profit over real healing.

The pharmaceutical industry has become the backbone of modern healthcare, not because it offers the best solutions, but because it offers the most profitable ones. Instead of addressing the root causes of disease, we are given Band-Aid solutions—pills that mask symptoms rather than fix the underlying problem. And once you start down the path of pharmaceutical dependence, getting off is often harder than staying on.

This became personal for me when I was diagnosed with ADHD. Like so many others, I was quickly handed a prescription—Adderall. At first, it seemed like a miracle. My focus improved, my productivity skyrocketed, and I finally felt like I was “normal.” But over time, I started to realize the dark side of these medications. I became dependent. If I skipped even a single day, I would experience withdrawal—intense fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, and a deep sense of unease that made functioning nearly impossible. It was terrifying to realize how much control a tiny pill had over me.

What scared me even more was how easily I was prescribed it. My doctor never warned me about the long-term effects, the potential for dependence, or the possibility that my so-called “symptoms” were actually just part of who I am. Instead of being taught how to work with my mind, I was given a Band-Aid solution—a chemical crutch that didn’t heal anything, only masked the problem.

This experience changed everything for me. I had once considered medical school, thinking that becoming a doctor was the best way to help people heal. But the more I learned, the more I saw that the system isn’t about healing at all—it’s about profit. Doctors are trained to prescribe, not to heal. They are controlled by insurance companies, forced into rigid treatment guidelines, and pushed to see more patients in less time. I knew I couldn’t be a part of that system.

The Problem With Our Medical System

My experience is just one example of a much larger problem: a system that prioritizes pharmaceutical treatment over holistic healing and long-term well-being.

Here’s how it works:

• Medical schools receive heavy funding from pharmaceutical companies, which influences how doctors are trained.
• Research is often controlled by the same companies that stand to profit from the results.
• Insurance companies dictate treatment options, and doctors have limited time with patients, making it easier to prescribe a drug than to explore alternative treatments.
• Many doctors are unaware of holistic approaches because they weren’t taught about them.

As a result, we have a medical system that doesn’t look for the cause of disease—it just treats the symptoms.

Just look at the way modern medicine approaches common conditions:

• Statins for cholesterol—They lower cholesterol levels, but they don’t address the underlying inflammation or diet that caused the issue in the first place.
• Antidepressants for mental health—They alter brain chemistry, but they don’t resolve the root causes of depression, such as trauma, gut health imbalances, or chronic stress.
• Painkillers for chronic pain—They block pain signals but do nothing to actually heal injuries, inflammation, or nerve damage.
• Stimulants for ADHD—They increase dopamine in the brain, but they don’t teach people how to harness their natural strengths, regulate their energy, or optimize their environment.

The pharmaceutical industry is not about curing disease. It’s about creating lifelong customers. If a patient is cured, they no longer need medication. But if they are merely managed—if their symptoms are controlled just enough to function but never fully go away—then they stay on those medications for life. That is the perfect business model.

The Suppression of Holistic Healing

It’s not that holistic healing is unscientific. In fact, there are countless studies showing that natural approaches can be just as, if not more, effective than pharmaceuticals—without the side effects or risks of dependence. But these approaches aren’t profitable, so they are ignored, dismissed, or even actively suppressed.

• Diet and Gut Health: Our gut microbiome directly impacts brain function, mood, and inflammation. Many mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, are linked to poor gut health. Yet, most doctors don’t ask patients about their diet before prescribing medications.
• Exercise and Movement: Regular movement has been proven to be as effective as some antidepressants in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Exercise also helps with ADHD, yet it’s rarely mentioned as a first-line treatment.
• Meditation and Breathwork: Studies show that breathwork and meditation can lower cortisol levels, improve focus, and help regulate emotions. But because these practices don’t generate profit, they aren’t widely promoted.
• Herbal Medicine and Supplements: Natural remedies like turmeric, magnesium, and omega-3s have been shown to reduce inflammation, improve cognitive function, and support mental health—but they aren’t prioritized because they can’t be patented and sold at high prices.

The truth is, the body wants to heal. Given the right conditions—proper nutrition, movement, stress management, and emotional well-being—it is capable of incredible recovery. Instead of looking at these proven methods, the system pushes drugs first. Why? Because a person who heals naturally doesn’t need prescriptions. A patient who fixes their gut health, reduces inflammation, and manages their mental well-being through natural means is a lost customer to the pharmaceutical industry.

Labeling Normal Human Experiences as “Disorders”

One of the greatest tricks the medical system has played is convincing us that normal variations in personality, energy, and emotional responses are “disorders” that require medication. They have taken the natural spectrum of human behavior and pathologized it—turning differences into diagnoses, quirks into conditions, and emotions into symptoms of disease.

Take ADHD, for example. For years, I genuinely believed I had a disorder because I didn’t fit into society’s narrow definition of normal. I was told I talked too much, got distracted easily, interrupted conversations. I even used to apologize for it—“Sorry, I have ADHD.” As if the way my brain naturally functioned was something to be ashamed of.

But the more I learned about myself, the more I realized that ADHD isn’t a flaw. It’s just a different way of thinking. I make connections quickly. I remember things best when I relate them to personal experiences. My energy allows me to juggle multiple tasks at once. And most importantly, I see the world in a way that others don’t.

So, what if the problem isn’t me? What if the real issue is how society forces people like me to conform to rigid, outdated standards?

Medicating Uniqueness: The Suppression of Natural Traits

Children with ADHD are labeled as “disruptive” or “distracting.” But what if they’re just energetic and curious? Instead of finding ways to nurture their creativity and channel their natural strengths, we drug them. We tell them that their enthusiasm is a problem. That their curiosity is a disorder. That their unique way of processing the world needs to be controlled.

Millions of kids are put on powerful stimulants that alter their brain chemistry—without any real understanding of how these drugs impact their long-term development. These medications don’t just make them “focus.” They change them. They dampen their energy, their spontaneity, their ability to think outside the box.

And for what? To make them easier to manage in a rigid school system that was never designed for diverse minds in the first place? To make their parents’ lives more convenient? To ensure that they grow up to be compliant workers who can sit at a desk for eight hours without questioning authority?

We are not medicating disorders—we are medicating differences. We are silencing potential innovators, artists, and free thinkers before they ever have a chance to realize their own power.

Depression, Anxiety, and the Myth of Chemical Imbalance

This same pattern repeats across the board when it comes to mental health. Depression and anxiety—natural human emotions—have been reframed as permanent, biological conditions. Instead of asking why someone is struggling, we slap a label on them and hand them a prescription.

But what if depression isn’t a disease? What if it’s a signal—a message from your mind and body that something deeper is off balance? Loneliness, trauma, chronic stress, lack of purpose—these are all real causes of suffering. Yet instead of helping people address those root causes, the system convinces them that they have a “chemical imbalance” that will require lifelong management with pills.

Here’s the problem: the entire idea of a serotonin imbalance causing depression has never been scientifically proven. The pharmaceutical industry pushed this theory because it was a convenient way to sell antidepressants—not because it was true. And yet, millions of people now believe they are biologically broken because that’s what they were told.

Instead of empowering people with knowledge about how nutrition, movement, sunlight, sleep, gut health, and community play into mental well-being, we give them a prescription and send them on their way. We tell them their only hope for feeling better lies in a bottle.

Who Benefits From This System?

The answer is obvious: the pharmaceutical industry.

If society embraced the truth—that many of these “disorders” are just variations of human experience, and that mental health struggles often have fixable root causes—how much money would be lost? How many people would stop taking their medications? How many would no longer be lifelong customers?

A child who learns to manage their ADHD naturally—through movement, creativity, hands-on learning—doesn’t need Adderall. A person who heals their depression by improving their gut health, finding community, and addressing past trauma doesn’t need an SSRI. And that’s exactly why these solutions are ignored.

Because a healed person is a lost customer.

Reclaiming Our Power: Rethinking Mental Health and Neurodiversity

It’s time to reject the idea that every human struggle is a disease. It’s time to stop apologizing for who we are. It’s time to stop allowing corporations to define our worth and dictate how we should function.

ADHD isn’t a disorder—it’s a different way of thinking. Depression isn’t just a chemical imbalance—it’s a message that something in life needs to change. Anxiety isn’t an illness—it’s a natural response to stress, fear, and uncertainty.

This doesn’t mean people shouldn’t seek help when they need it. But it does mean that we should start questioning the automatic assumption that the only solution is a pill. We should be looking for real healing—not just symptom suppression.

Because the truth is, we were never broken to begin with.

The Medical Industry’s Reluctance to Change

One of the most frustrating aspects of modern medicine is its resistance to new ideas. Science is supposed to evolve, yet when it comes to medicine, any challenge to the pharmaceutical model is met with skepticism, suppression, or outright dismissal.

This is why holistic health is often labeled as “pseudoscience” despite extensive research proving its effectiveness. This is why alternative approaches—like functional medicine, which focuses on treating the root cause—aren’t widely accepted in mainstream healthcare.

And this isn’t just about ADHD. It’s about the entire healthcare system. We’ve been conditioned to believe that if something isn’t a pharmaceutical drug, it isn’t a “real” treatment. But history has shown us that many medical “truths” have later been disproven.

For example:

• We once believed smoking was harmless—until research proved otherwise.
• We once thought fat was bad and sugar was fine—until science revealed the truth about processed foods and metabolic disease.
• We once dismissed the gut-brain connection—until modern research confirmed that gut health impacts mental health.

So why do we assume that our current pharmaceutical-heavy model is the best way forward? If history tells us anything, it’s that medicine must evolve. And yet, because there’s so much money tied into pharmaceutical solutions, change is resisted at all costs.

What Needs to Change?

If we truly want a healthcare system that heals rather than just treats, we need to start asking hard questions and demanding change. That means:

• Prioritizing research into holistic medicine and preventive health.
• Educating people on how to take care of their bodies instead of just relying on pills.
• Challenging the idea that pharmaceutical drugs should always be the first option.
• Pushing for transparency in medical research and removing financial incentives that influence treatment recommendations.

Most importantly, it means shifting the conversation around health. Instead of seeing conditions like ADHD, anxiety, or even chronic illness as things that require lifelong medication, we need to ask: Why is this happening in the first place? What is the body trying to tell us, and how can we support it instead of suppressing symptoms?

The Hard Truth: Are We Being Healed or Controlled?

It’s time to ask ourselves—are we truly being healed, or are we just being managed? Have we mistaken dependency for treatment? Have we allowed a system designed for profit to dictate what “health” means?

Think about it. If pharmaceutical companies had a cure for your condition, would they tell you? Or would they keep you on their drugs for life, milking every last dollar out of you while convincing you that you need them?

Why is it that the very scientists who claim to be dedicated to truth and discovery refuse to challenge outdated theories and rewrite the books? Why do doctors, the so-called healers, so quickly reach for a prescription pad instead of exploring the root causes of disease? Why is actual healing dismissed as “alternative” while drugs that create lifelong customers are considered the gold standard?

And most importantly—why are we okay with this?

The answer is simple: because we’ve been conditioned to trust a system that does not have our best interests at heart. We’ve been told that questioning it makes us “anti-science,” when in reality, questioning is the very foundation of science itself.

We don’t have to accept this. We don’t have to blindly follow a system that benefits from our illness. We can choose to take back control of our own health, to seek out real healing, to demand answers, and to stop settling for Band-Aids that only mask the symptoms while the real issues are ignored.

The truth is right in front of us—but will we see it, or will we continue swallowing the lies, one pill at a time?