We interview Kevin P Miller. Kevin is a filmmaker, writer and journalist and his films have won numerous international Film and Television awards. In 2009, Kevin wrote and directed Generation Rx. The film presents the whole story about the prescribing of psychiatric medicines to children and questions whether we have forced millions of children onto pharmaceutical drugs for commercial rather than scientific reasons. In 2015, Kevin followed up on this story with Letters from Generation Rx. The film reflects the stories of thousands of people who wrote to Kevin to share their experiences taking psychiatric drugs. Their gripping tales are combined with the latest mental health research, science, and medical health perspectives. We talk about Kevinâs films, his approach to film making and his thoughts on how we treat people that ask for help with their mental health.
In this episode we discuss:
- How Kevin came to make his powerful films that document the real experiences of people taking psychiatric drugs
- The coverage of the 1991 Prozac hearings in Washington D.C. before the Food and Drug Administration
- How the power of the testimonies of people harmed by their medications drove Kevin to tell their stories and how difficult a process it was
- How Tilda Swinton came to be involved as narrator of the film
- Reaction to the film, particularly from Pharmaceutical manufacturers
- How examples of people who used vitamins and nutrition to help their mental health caused outrage amongst the medical community
- That there are millions of people being harmed because of the lack of the relevant information that would allow patients to make informed choices about their medications
- How tax payers money is used to bring medications to market and how little is spent on research into nutritional approaches
- How free trade and healthcare are intertwined
- The concept of medical freedom of choice
- That we should devote a small mount of time and money to alternative approaches and how it could help millions of people without the risk of adverse effects
- Discussions around Folic acid and how earlier action could have prevented many neural tube defects
- The plans for the film Letters from Generation Rx including distribution
- How people can join the mailing list at lettersfromgenerationrx.com
- There is additional news and information at facebook.com/lettersfromgenerationrx
- That we should recognise that some people find the drugs helpful
- How people can use the information in the film to question their doctors and their legislators
