Film on mental health
A thought-provoking new film about the issue of young people being put on medication for behaviour problems is to be shown online as part of Perth’s marking of Mental Health Week.
The film called Medicating Normal will get its first UK online screening on Thursday, October 8 at 3pm. The free tune-in opportunity has been arranged as an event for Mental Health Week by the member-led mental health charity PLUS Perth.
There is a plan to follow the film at 4.15pm with a post-screening community discussion.
Panellists include Beverley Thomson, writer, speaker and researcher, whose key area is antidepressants; Dr Dan Fisher, psychiatrist and a person with lived experience of recovery from schizophrenia; Dr Danius Puras, professor of child psychiatry and public mental health at Vilnius University; and Angela Peacock, MSW, film subject.
The renowned Stanford University psychiatrist Dr Anna Lembke praised the film saying:“Medicating Normal dares to challenge prevailing myths about how psychotropic medications work, or fail to, in our ongoing struggle to treat mental illness. It promises to spark a long-overdue national conversation on the growing problem of overprescribing.”
“This documentary is excellent,”said Susan Scott, development manager for PLUS Perth, who has worked in mental health advocacy for 16 years and “speaks from the heart”.
“We would like to raise the profile of the very risky issue of putting people on medications, often youngsters. It’s happening especially more so during the pandemic when more people are visiting their GP with anxiety.
“We know that the it can be hard to discontinue antidepressants, there can be bad symptoms lasting for years when people come off their medication suddenly. There are ways to taper it off, but doctors don’t talk about that when they first hand over a prescription.
“I come across the problem of GPs and psychiatrists being very good at putting people on antidepressants but not having the knowledge to help people get off these drugs. More often than not, a person comes off too quickly.
“It can be better to prevent this situation occurring in the first place, by frank discussions and helping parents and youngsters make informed choices. In my book, the more everybody knows, the better.
“A lot of good can come from practicing emotional CPR, that’s being listened to.
“This free online event on Thursday is being presented by PLUS Perth, Angus Voices and Dundee Healthy Minds Network.
“Medicating Normal is a new, unreleased documentary that examines the current paradigm of mental health treatment including overdiagnosis, overprescribing and polypharmacy.”
More details and free registration for a ticket can be found at bit.ly/ TaysideScreening
The film trailer can be viewed at www.medicatingnormal.com