Although the perceived effects of CEDs in everyday settings have been investigated, the CEDs included in such surveys were either looked at more generally as prescription stimulants or the use of a range of different CEDs was surveyed. Beyond these reasons, some individuals may also be self-medicating to treat undiagnosed attention deficit problems that they are experiencing. The reasons for taking CEDs have been found to include the fear of academic failure, the need to meet high work demands, overcoming procrastination and boosting motivation. Survey data have identified a number of subjective benefits experienced as a result of taking CEDs, such as improved concentration, the ability to study for longer, increased alertness, increased focus, productivity and drive, increased mental stamina or endurance and a greater interest in work. Further to their prescribed use, off-prescription use of CEDs has been reported, particularly by students during university assessments. They are prescribed for conditions such as dementia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of this manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.Ĭognitive enhancing drugs (CEDs) are believed to improve cognitive functions such as attention and motivation. Teodorini received a fee-waiver studentship for her doctoral studies from the Centre for Addictive Behaviours Research, London South Bank University. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.įunding: R.D. Received: JAccepted: DecemPublished: February 5, 2020Ĭopyright: © 2020 Teodorini et al. PLoS ONE 15(2):Įditor: Kenji Hashimoto, Chiba Daigaku, JAPAN Overall, the findings of the current study should be beneficial in informing clinicians and legislative bodies about the modafinil user profile and how modafinil is perceived.Ĭitation: Teodorini RD, Rycroft N, Smith-Spark JH (2020) The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits. This may suggest further beneficial effects of modafinil or it may reflect insufficient medical treatment for psychiatric disorders in some people. Respondents who had reported a psychiatric diagnosis declared higher subjective benefits of modafinil. There was also a tentative link between the reported use of modafinil and the reported presence of psychiatric disorders, largely depression and anxiety. More frequent reported modafinil use was associated with higher numbers of perceived benefits whilst reported frequency of use was not associated with the number of perceived risks. Modafinil users reported higher levels of illicit drug use and psychiatric diagnosis than would be expected from population-based data. Overall, modafinil was perceived by users as being safe. ![]() Of these the majority were male, American or British, university-educated and currently employed, with a mean age of 27. ![]() Of the 404 respondents, 219 reported taking modafinil. Information was obtained regarding demographic data, illicit drug use, psychiatric diagnosis and experience of modafinil. ![]() To this end, an online survey, targeting cognitive enhancing drug users and students, was advertised on forum sites. As modafinil is the most commonly used off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug, the current study aimed to provide a detailed profile of modafinil users and their experiences and perceptions of this drug. However, little is known presently about the characteristics of off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug users or their perceived everyday experience with these drugs. Cognitive enhancing drugs are claimed to improve cognitive functions such as learning and attention.
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