I totally agree. And who know what else they're accustomed to using. If they can't find
ritalin, how about some Adderal? Or how about some home made meth?
Young users without a lot of cash will buy and use whatever they can get ahold of.
All the above are stimulants that hype you up.
Give false confidence, and impair judgement.
Yup, could explain a lot.
And chemically, very similar to the effects of noradrenaline. So, in search of that bit of mood boost, this pair found some very adrenalin-producing activities. It eventually wears off, although individuals vary a great deal in how long that takes and what the after-effects might be.
Similar to what meth addicts go through, adrenalin seekers will hit some real lows, their brains will adjust a little or a lot, and then they go in search of more of their drug. When unable to get their adrenalin fix (in this case, previously provided by gaming, no doubt) they become tired, irritable (very), and moody. Adrenalin helps mitigate hunger signals and pain, too, so now they're feeling grouchy, hungry, uncomfortable, etc.
The lack of confidence issue is very interesting. Instead of feeling invincible and in control, a person lacking their accustomed amount of adrenalin may feel defeated, self-hating and suicidal. However, in many cases (I'm basing this mostly on in-patient research), they aren't quite mentally up to the task of killing themselves. Having a gun handy (easy method) changes that, but every action can feel daunting. They may become sort of "catatonic" and remote and just want to lie down or stare into space.
