Ashes to Ashes

One in five Americans is taking a psychiatric medication, including antidepressants, ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety medications and mood stabilizers. While these drugs sometimes provide effective short term relief for emotional distress, pharmaceutical companies have hidden dangerous side effects and long term harm from both doctors and patients. Combining cinema verité and investigative journalism, “Medicating Normal” follows the stories of five diverse Americans who were harmed by prescribed medications they took to feel better. The larger story of medicine infiltrated by marketing is told by our experts who are psychiatrists and medical researchers at major universities, a military psychologist, and one crusading investigative journalist.

One in five Americans is taking a psychiatric medication, including antidepressants, ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety medications and mood stabilizers. While these drugs sometimes provide effective short term relief for emotional distress, pharmaceutical companies have hidden dangerous side effects and long term harm from both doctors and patients. Combining cinema verité and investigative journalism, “Medicating Normal” follows the stories of five diverse Americans who were harmed by prescribed medications they took to feel better. The larger story of medicine infiltrated by marketing is told by our experts who are psychiatrists and medical researchers at major universities, a military psychologist, and one crusading investigative journalist.