Medicating Normal

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published June 24, 2022 at 3:03 PM PDT

"Medicating Normal" is the untold story of what can happen when profit-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress. The documentary follows five high-functioning people, including two military veterans, whose doctors prescribed psychiatric medication to help with normal problems such as stress, insomnia, anxiety, and grief. The arguments extolling the benefits of these drugs—prescribed to 1 in 5 Americans daily—are often the only ones presented to the public. Medicating Normal tells another side of the story, one rarely reported. It is a story of harm done.

Monday, June 27, 2022 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV + Wednesday, June 29 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2 (Vimeo On demand / other ways to rent the film)

One in five Americans takes one or more commonly prescribed psychiatric medications on a daily basis. While these drugs can sometimes provide effective relief, they are prescribed far too often, frequently without discussing with patients the possible alternatives and potential adverse outcomes, both physical and mental.

"Medicating Normal" follows five people who are harmed by the very medications they believed would help them. It is the untold story of the serious consequences that can occur when market-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress.

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Learn more about the experts featured in the film.

See hours of bonus footage with the experts on the "Medicating Normal" YouTube channel.

A Psychiatrist Explores the Terrible Side Effects of Antidepressants — Stuart Shipko, M.D.

A Pharmacist Speaks About the Dangers of Benzodiazepines

Credits: Directors: Lynn Cunningham and Wendy Ractliffe | Producers: Lynn Cunningham, Wendy Ractliffe and Muffie Meyer.

Medicating Normal

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