During the violent Charlottesville protests of 2017, journalist and author P.E. Moskowitz was only a few feet away when Heather Heyer was killed by an attacking motorist. 16 years earlier, P.E. was in middle school Spanish class a couple blocks from the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. The trauma contributed to panic attacks and, finally, a mental breakdown. As they got their life back together, P.E. began to question a lot of conventional wisdom. Were they mentally ill to have such a breakdown or were they responding appropriately to enormous trauma in a difficult world? Are we looking at potential cures when we should be looking at coping or better yet coming up with ways to stop the horrors from ever taking place? They also questioned the role of drugs in mental health treatment. In the book Breaking Awake: A Reporter's Search for a New Life, and a New World, Through Drugs and in this intriguing interview, P.E. explains how they look at drugs - both the prescription and street varieties - as tools that can be used positively or negatively, to help or harm. And that patients are owed a lot more options than a shortcut to SSRIs or Adderall in their quest to feel better.
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