Medicating Normal Film Screening + Discussion

How do you know when the drug meant to help you is actually making things worse? While many report being helped by psychiatric medications, there is an untold story of harms done: physical dependence, withdrawal, escalating diagnoses, overmedication of trauma, and serious adverse effects. Join us as we honor the stories of veterans and others who found their own paths to healing.

Our panelists include veteran Michael Purvis, Yarrow’s own academic partner and researcher Shannon Hughes, and one of the Medicating Normal film stars Angela Peacock.

Link to reserve a free ticket: bit.ly/MedicatingNormalFilm

Full description:

One in five Americans, along with millions of children, are prescribed these drugs daily, and often for a lifetime. MEDICATING NORMAL follows the experiences of a married couple, a female combat veteran, a waitress, a teenager. All were harmed by medication taken for symptoms associated with life’s stressors -- insomnia, lack of focus, sadness and anxiety.

While these drugs can provide symptom relief, especially in the short term, the public is not fully informed about their dangerous side effects which are often misdiagnosed as new “disorders'' creating a prescribing cascade of more drugs.  Furthermore, these drugs can cause debilitating physical dependence, acute withdrawal and prolonged neurological damage.  As several doctors explain: for many it can take years to taper off of these pharmaceuticals.

MEDICATING NORMAL is critical and timely, since increasing numbers of people all over the US are seeking psychological help now more than ever.   Throughout the film, prominent psychiatrists and scientific experts explain how – shockingly – the rationale for such prolific prescribing is routinely backed by flawed and manipulated scientific data.  Yet, the arguments extolling the benefits of these drugs are often the only ones presented in the media. There is another side of the story - one rarely reported. It is a story of harm done.