The Richard Fee Foundation & Periscope Foundation Present
a screening of the film
“Medicating Normal”
followed by an expert panel discussion & audience Q&A
RESERVE YOUR FREE SEAT NOW!
Virginia Beach family uses son's addiction, death as a warning for others
As seen on PBS, this award-winning documentary tells the untold story of the long-term consequences of taking prescribed psychiatric medications (anti-anxiety meds, sleeping pills, antidepressants, ADHD meds, etc). The film relays the experiences of a newly-married couple, a female combat veteran, a waitress and a teenager made worse by the very medications they believed would help. The film’s subjects struggle with serious physical and mental side effects, including neurological damage, while taking the medications and also from attempting to withdraw.
One-in-five Americans take these commonly-prescribed medications daily, and often for a lifetime. The claims extolling their benefits are often the only ones presented in mainstream media. The other side of the story is rarely reported, and it is a story of harm done.
When: Thursday, January 26, 2023
Where: Sandler Center, 201 Market Street Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Time: Doors open at 6:00pm; Program starts promptly at 7:00pm
Cost: FREE to attend. Donations accepted after registration or at the event.
Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The Eastern Virginia Medical School, Periscope Foundation and Richard Scott Fee Foundation. Eastern Virginia Medical School is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit Designation
The Eastern Virginia Medical School designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.25 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Meet the Panel
Panel Topic: Are We Doing the Right Thing?
Society’s Overreliance on Psychiatric Medications
Lynn Cunningham, Co-Producer/Director of “Medicating Normal”
After witnessing the stunning decline of a beloved family member—once a high-functioning scholar/athlete who had become a disabled shell of her former self— Lynn began searching for answers. She joined with her filmmaking partner Wendy Ractliffe, embarking on five years of research into the complex world of “mental health” treatment. A personal quest to help one suffering individual turned into a mission to provide a critical public health service for many. The “Medicating Normal” filmmaking team has pieced together a stunning new perspective on the safety and efficacy of psychiatric drugs and society’s overreliance on them.
Robert Whitaker
Whitaker is an American journalist and author who has won numerous awards as a journalist covering medicine and science, including the George Polk Award for Medical Writing and a National Association for Science Writers’ Award for best magazine article. In 1998, he co-wrote a series on psychiatric research for the Boston Globe that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. His first book, Mad in America, was named by Discover magazine as one of the best science books of 2002. Anatomy of an Epidemic won the 2010 Investigative Reporters and Editors book award for best investigative journalism. He is the publisher of madinamerica.com.
Gretchen LeFever Watson, Ph.D.
A clinical psychologist whose research and intervention projects have received international scholarly and media attention, was among the first to document drug over-treatment for ADHD in the U.S. and to demonstrate that disruptive conduct can be successfully reduced through school-wide behavioral interventions.
Sami Timimi, M.D.
Sami is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist working in the National Health Service in the UK. He writes from a critical psychiatry perspective and has published many academic articles, book chapters, and books, including his latest book, Insane Medicine: How the Mental Health Industry Creates Damaging Treatment Traps and How You Can Escape Them.
Brooke Siem
Among the first generation of teens to be medicated with antidepressants. After spending half her life—and her entire adult life—on antidepressants, she wondered: Who might I be without them?
Unfurled against a global backdrop, Brooke's memoir, MAY CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS, chronicles explosive and terrifying antidepressant withdrawal and the fight to manage the modern mental health system, all while demanding hope and forgiveness in the name of healing.