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The Reeder Scholars invite the campus community to a brownbag discussion on psychological drugs noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 in Marlo East, Farinon College Center. Participants should bring their own lunch.
Jeffrey Goldstein, director of health services and College physician at Bailey Health Center, will be on hand to offer a medical perspective and share observations of psychological drug use at Lafayette.
The discussion will explore the role psychological drugs play in society and on campus. Conversation will focus on anti-depressants, and participants will be asked to question common perceptions of such medications as well as debate the necessity of those therapies.
“I know people who are currently taking some kind of psychological drug therapy, usually in the form of anti-depressants,” says discussion leader Caitlin Kelly ’08 (Cutchogue, N.Y.), a biology major. “I have observed them feeling insecure about taking such drugs due to the harsh criticisms of others. More specifically, I often find that people with such prescriptions are considered ‘weak’ for relying on a drug to have a ‘normal’ mental state. Millions of Americans take these drugs, everyone has an opinion on the matter, and yet rarely are people actually talking about it or seeking facts. Are the criticisms founded in truth, or should we learn to accept that medicine not only treats physical ailments, but also mental ones?”
Now in its second year as an off campus intellectual community, the Reeder Scholars program is experimenting with a new format this year. Reeder Scholars host events with professionals, visiting artists, college professors, and religious leaders. Previously this year, the group organized a visit from the STREB dance troupe, which opened the Footlights Series at the Williams Center for the Arts in September.