Impotent

M - works in a dead-end job for the insurance and meager income. He's in a trough, and asks his doctor for Paxil because he's worried he'll never stop worrying. Meanwhile, L - is a college dropout and construction worker. He self-medicates with Ambien and, after he accidentally cuts off some fingers, moves to Darvocet, then Zoloft once the cocktail of pharmaceuticals meant to prop him up, puts him to sleep.
Impotent chronicles a time when individuals are reduced to letters on a medical chart and "It is easier to get a refill on a prescription than approval for therapy." Matthew Roberson clinically catalogs the hopes, dreams and failures of people identified only through form-like abbreviations (D - for Dependent, I - for Insured). Each "case study' exposes a different facet of our medicated society, humanizing a multitude of conditions.

Matthew Roberson teaches at Central Michigan University.