Anti Depressants, SSRI's, Suicides, Rash of Recent Killings

Well with the recent nationwide rash of multiple killings, many at ATS members are left wondering what can trigger such events. Threads that were started about random killers walking into a public place and taking lives for almost no rational reason; ATS'ers have discovered articles stated Anti-Depressants were related.

Why are the prescription drugs causing this?

And Why is the FDA not addressing these fatal concerns?

I thought a thread would make a reference point, if everyone pitches in and can find and post the articles related to meds being taken.

Here is a link and some statistics related to SSRI meds/ Anti-Depressants and killings.

Anti-Depressant Facts


Anti-depressants to carry suicide warning in Europe.



Antidepressants behind 52 percent of all suicides among women

Please help make this list grow, so we can see the relationships between killings, suicides and prescription meds. Thanks!





[edit on 15-2-2008 by Realtruth]


mod edit, spelling in title

[edit on 15-2-2008 by DontTreadOnMe]

But I will say I agree that it seems as if these medications are a part of the root cause of all this. These are medications that interact with chemicals in the brain much lick alcohol or any other drug. Any time this happens there is going to be a risk of people having “odd” reactions to it. Sort of like how a lot of people say that tequila makes them mean as an example.

There is also the recent evidence of tainted drugs.

I know this link is Foxnews sorry about that….
www.foxnews.com...

I am sure there are many more cases similar to this but more around the side of the actual chemicals in the drug itself.
Most of which you will not see on sites such as this:
www.healthatoz.com...

Other times you will have people that abuse the drugs and use them improperly adding to the dangers that they will have adverse effects. Then you have the people that are taking handfuls of drugs that should not be mixed but because they do not mention it to a doctor who may or may not have asked with the same risks as above.

With some drugs even taking an aspirin could cause side effects.

Much of the time though people are looking for a quick fix by adding added unnatural things to their bodies. For instance depression is often triggered by a lack of sometimes a vitamin supplement or even regular amounts of sunshine can help.
depression.about.com...
www.depression-guide.com...
www.vitamindcouncil.com...

Another thing that often harms a persons’ mental health is to dwell on things. Much of the time you are recommended to do something to take your mind off of what you are dwelling on this helps a person overcome things easier and quicker.
www.mentalhealth.org.uk...
www.webmd.com...
www.cdc.gov...

In a world today when one can sit on-line and travel all over it is no wonder we have as much diagnosed depression that we do. People are not staying as active and are relying on drugs to regulate their body when just doing things and taking vitamins can work much better, be much cheaper, and much healthier.
I am not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for to be added to your thread but these do have some relevance to the subject.
Raist

I don't really get this (insert a little sarcasm here), these 'drugs' are for helping w/ depression, right, okay. Strange, then, why this black box 'warning'?

On Sept 14, 2004, an FDA panel voted 18 to 5 to require manufacturers of all antidepressants to add black box warnings to their product labeling. A month later, the FDA adopted the panel's recommendations. The warning reads in part:

"Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in short-term studies in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Drug Name] or any other antidepressant in a child or adolescent must balance this risk with the clinical need. Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior."

" FDA Antidepressant Suicide Warning"

"Eli Lilly knew Prozac had 1200% higher suicide rate than other antidepressants"

"Psychiatry: Can it Cure? Science or Scam?" (video, 4:23)

"Paxil increases suicide risk"

"FDA science dearth puts public health at risk"

[edit on 15-2-2008 by anhinga]

You have no idea.

The tobacco cover-up was nothing compared to what the pharmaceutical companies have hidden about the SSRI drugs.

They are murderers...murderers of those who take the drugs, and murderers of those they take out with them.

reply to post by Valhall


...agree w/ you about the "murderers" sentence. I just can't believe the FDA blatantly says this:

The FDA cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific base has eroded and its scientific organizational structure is weak.

"FDA Science and Mission at Risk: Report of the Subcommittee on Science and Technology" (pdf, 60 pgs., 2007)

It's not just SSRIs that can cause problems with violence.
Chantix, a drug prescribed for quitting smoking has some nasty side effects,
chantix.legalview.com...

... A link between Chantix and serious psychiatric complications is becoming progressively probable, according to the FDA. Additionally, the drug may further worsen preexisting psychiatric illness or cause a recurrence of past issues. Two weeks after this report, Pfizer added stronger Chantix warnings to the drug's packaging, stating publicly that while a direct link between Chantix and the reported psychiatric problems did not exist, the possibility of Chantix-induced psychotic episodes could not be ruled out. Pfizer has suggested that these episodes of irrational behavior have been caused by nicotine withdrawal. However, the FDA's findings stated that even those patients who had continued smoking had similar psychiatric episodes. Indeed, cases of such extreme psychiatric problems have not manifested themselves as prominently in over the counter quitting aids, such as NRT's.

chantix-and-suicide-the-latest-numbers
Anti-smoking drug Chantix adds suicide to it's warning label

A woman I know told me about her experience with this drug. She appears to be quite level-headed and low-key.
She told me she was forced to quit taking the drug after experiencing vivid and troubling dreams.
If someone like her experiences this effect. imagine what someone who may be troubled could experience.
Imagine what could happen to normal teens who undergo mood swings if this potentially dangerous crug is introduced into their system.

I think there may be many other factors to consider, such as diet,food and drug interactions. I recently had a problem with my medication and eating grapefruit the same day. The prescription and website for the medication doesn't say anything. I had to google the two. One website says not to take hot showers with the medication either. I barely tolerate the medication at 100mg and the doctor wanted me at 300 to 400mg. Many meds apparently effect blood sugar etc. Many people might not drink enough water either.

The recent shooting in NIU Illinois father was a diabetic. It might be that the son was also and was supposedly treated with Paxil and was apparently off his meds.

Many people might have other health issues like drug resistant bacterial infections. There are so many variables. I think that full blood work should be done and then watched closely.

I have two kids on anti seizure medication. I remember having these when I was younger also.

I have taken antidepressants off and on since I was 16. I would say that I have taken Zoloft the most. A few months ago my doctor changed my meds to Cymbalta. It made me suicidal and more depressed than I was. I didn't realize it was the meds until I ran out the week of Thanksgiving and the docs office was closed so I started taking the leftover Zoloft that I had. I started feeling better and realized that it must have been the meds that made me feel that way.

While I was taking that med I got banned from ATS and warned several times. Look at my post "thanksgiving, who gives a crap" and you can see my attitude while on that med. I'm still on meds and wish I could get off of them.... but thats a different thread. Anyway, just wanted to give some insight from someone who takes ADPs

If you stop taking an SSRI abruptly you will go bonkers. Google "paxil withdrawal" for some interesting stories. The patients are not informed of this fact beforehand, unfortunately. I have seen people wind up in psych emergency units because of this.
The media is making it sound like it was the person's fault. If he would have just kept taking the drug for the rest of his life this would not have happened.

Originally posted by stellawayten
I have taken antidepressants off and on since I was 16. I would say that I have taken Zoloft the most. A few months ago my doctor changed my meds to Cymbalta. It made me suicidal and more depressed than I was. I didn't realize it was the meds until I ran out the week of Thanksgiving and the docs office was closed so I started taking the leftover Zoloft that I had. I started feeling better and realized that it must have been the meds that made me feel that way.

While I was taking that med I got banned from ATS and warned several times. Look at my post "thanksgiving, who gives a crap" and you can see my attitude while on that med. I'm still on meds and wish I could get off of them.... but thats a different thread. Anyway, just wanted to give some insight from someone who takes ADPs

I have never taken any myself but I have many people close to me that have taken these different brand names. All of the people I know have been through exactly what you are claiming.

These prescription drugs seem to put people on an emotional rollercoaster. I have personally witnessed close friends acting like life, family and friends didn't matter one bit.

It appears that many people that take these drugs end up finding natural alternatives because of all the nasty side effects of prescription drugs.

What's worse the original problem or multiple side effects?

I have a couple perscriptions including zoloft. It helps me but if I miss a day with out weening myself it can get weird aggressive. Not toward people or animals - just tools and shop walls.

www.antidepressantsfacts.com...
The list is current to 2004.

www.fda.gov...
U.S. government information on Effexor.

Australian Judge blames Paxil & Effexor for murder attempt

www.baumhedlundlaw.com...

www.kglg.com...

Some of the patients who have suffered an akathisia reaction have been driven to horrible deeds. Matthew Miller was a 13-year-old who committed suicide less than a week after starting to take Zoloft. Donald Schell, 60, took two Paxil tablets before experiencing hallucinations and then shooting himself, his wife, their daughter, and their granddaughter to death on Feb. 13, 1998. On March 4, 1993, two weeks after starting to take Prozac, William Forsyth stabbed his wife 15 times as she lay in bed, and then leaned on the knife to kill himself. Reginald Payne, 63, a teacher in Great Britain, suffocated his wife and threw himself off a cliff in March 1996, after having taking Prozac for just 11 days.

The list goes on...and on... and on.

Some years back, after receiving a PTSD diagnosis from the VA, I under-went a few years of treatment which included a litany of various anti-depressants. I have to admit that initially the meds may have saved my life, and perhaps the life of some-one else. Make no mistake, if properly diagnosed & prescribed, anti-depressants can be extremely effective in crisis situations. However, through a combination of supervised drug-therapy/talk-therapy, the realistic goal is often a med-free existence.

My experience with prolonged use, was that every given drug eventually became ineffective, or the side effects intolerable...leading to many periodic up-grades.

The one trait that most folks on prescription anti-depressants have in common, is the need to occasionally test reality, i.e., come-off the meds. They usually don't consult...they just stop. Almost without exception, the first person to recognize a change in behavior isn't the patient...it's usually some-one close to him/her, and that person may, or may not feel comfortable giving a heads-up. Worse-case, it's the authorities.

My experience was many years ago, and I successfully moved away from drug therapy in favor of more holistic approaches. Also, I realized that the VA would have prescribed in-perpetuity.

If you know some-one on meds, and their behaviors/activities noticably change...by all means, bring it to their/somebody' attention.

In my case...friendship + self forgiveness + gratitude + service + humor + exercise + give more + take less = wellness

"Here Here", or is it "Hear Hear"...

Totally agree, synthetics in and of themselves are not evil - however...
First we need to master nature and the effects on the body before skipping that stage altogether and getting freakish results.

As I mentioned somewhere before, I was diagnosed with OCD years back as a kid.

They hooked me up on prozac, but I unhooked myself.
I will be honest, I didnt see (feel) a difference. Now others may have saw a difference, (me sleeping more) but this begs to ask the question: Are pills meant to suppress you so that you appear 'normal' to others - while at the same time you have the torture still alive in your head? This could be why these kids snap.

Why? Because its not treating anything at all.

Again, I will say a holistic approach, at this point in history, is the only way to go, if you want help that not only others see, but more importantly makes a true difference in your life. Traditional medicine is not the cure, its there to help you while you get to the root of why you have the problem to begin with.

I have my own views on the OCD thing, at least I know what got me in there and thus was able to come out. Been drug free for many years now. Doesnt mean its easy. I had some pretty rough times in there...but again, I made the choice I needed to make and I got the results I was looking for.

The whole industry in general is just a hoax for control. Its the ego (false self for you Christians who read Pauls work), run wild. The desire to be something by a label enforced upon it by the milieu of a collective 'insane' society who always wants more in order to increase their sense of worth.

Anyway...True non of these shooting took place like before these anti depressant drugs became the norm.

I love the A.D.D. ones.
People cant handle the energy that naturally comes with being a kid, nor knows how to properly channel that energy, so they dope them up so they can sit in boring class rooms all day. After all, someone is not normal unless they sit all day quiet. (they really do want non A.I. robots from us.) Sit listen and say nothing.

The lids are popping, it just wasnt meant to be.
Perhaps a reform in the way we think and a social restructure is called for.
But we are all to busy doing to sit and relax a bit.

Peace

dAlen

Whats funny is that in nature shamans have the means to expand the mind and consciousness. In many countries (not all) certain methods or natural products are banned. Well not really banned as they grow in nature.

One such item is known as the death of ego. or 'ego death'.

Now here it the point.
Notice how more and more natural products which were legal are slowly becoming banned. Again, the 'ego' is trying to say all of nature is illegal.

My question is are we next? We produce '___' in our brain, why are we not illegal.

But then it dawned on me...we are illegal. Look at this post.
The 'ego', the insanity of the collective conscious has declared war on nature and that includes us...we have a substance that can create "death of ego" and that just will not do.

So we have these pharmaceuticals that nicely destroy are brains - that is if it fails to control the substance naturally produced within.

This explains nicely why this stuff is legal then. Its here to blow our minds...anything meant to free us (even our own mind) is contraband.

Peace

dAlen

p.s: issues are trying to surface for people to deal with, but these drugs push it down...so when it comes up, its like a volcano.

Like the shamans with their methods, if you resist the negative stages and dont float alone and 'accept' (love, the christian idea), then you will be in for a hell of a ride.
So the pharma drugs push it down and bascially helps one to resist what is...anyway, the basics are here, if your open you will get the point.

p.s.s: There is a technique where in therapy you just move your body how you feel.
This may sound like not much, but you will be surprised at how many of us are so tied into 'the normal way' we are supposed to even move, that the person is shy to express themselves as it were. So much to be said on this topic in general, but as I stated above, the basics have been discussed...just go from here and begin to free yourself.

[edit on 16-2-2008 by dAlen]

You can also look at this problem another way. There are a lot of people out there who have real emotional and psychological problems. Drugs or no drugs these people are sick and dangerous. These people who go 'crazy' and kill others or commit suicide are on these medications because they have a past history of depression, mental illness, psychotic episodes and emotional problems.

I know we desperately want to blame something outside of the person and their problem, but the problem may be what is behind their criminal actions. There are vastly more people who use these drugs and it helps them. Do we take away the drugs? Then what about the thousands of people who currently get help from these drugs? Where does that leave them?

I'm not sold on the fact that these drugs 'cause' these crimes or issues. In almost all of these shootings and suicides the common element seems to be a history of depression and mental illness. If anything I do not believe that we treat clinical depression and mental illness correctly, especially in the USA, were there is a negative stigma attached to those diagnosed with a 'problem'. I do not think it is shocking that someone on anti-depressants commits suicide. They are depressed and that's why they are on the medication in the first place. Apparently, the drug was not working for them.


[edit on 16-2-2008 by zerotime]

Originally posted by zerotime
You can also look at this problem another way. There are a lot of people out there who have real emotional and psychological problems. Drugs or no drugs these people are sick and dangerous. These people who go 'crazy' and kill others are on these medications because they have a past history of mental illness, psychotic episodes and emotional problems.

I know we desperately want to blame something outside of the person and their problem, but the problem may be what is behind their criminal actions. There are vastly more people who use these drugs and it helps them. Do we take away the drugs? Then what about the thousands of people who currently get help from these drugs? Where does that leave them?

I'm not sold on the fact that these drugs 'cause' these crimes. In almost all of these shootings the common element seems to be a history of mental illness. If anything I do not believe that we treat mental illness correctly, especially in the USA, were there is a negative stigma attached to those diagnosed with a mental illness.

To put it short...I dont recall school shootings as a common thing until these drugs became the norm.

In my time people didnt have the luxury (thank god) for the crap they have now.
People suffer, but if you press it down...they will pop.

You say that more people then not do not do this. My point is that they are potential candidates, as before we didnt have anyone shooting up schools. To you a couple of school shooting aint bad in the ratio...to me it shouldnt be happening.

People want a solution without facing the problem.
so the people on these meds arent being helped...they are running away from that which will eventually come back to haunt them.

peace

dAlen

- so yes, meds may not 'cause' them...but if it helps to suppress people from facing the issues causing the problem to begin with, then its only hiding the innevitable.

- Also if you note, some of the side affects of the meds are suicide, etc. So in a sense the meds do cause this.

[edit on 16-2-2008 by dAlen]

As a young teenager I was quite surprised at the eagerness or doctors to prescribe anti depressants. This must be 10 years back, had a touch of glandular fever so went back to the docs several times with lingering non de script symptoms. I was offered anti depressants several times before any serious diet advice, and more importantly the bloods tests. Even then I knew depression medication wasn't needed. Seemed to be a pretty standard answer to teenage problems at my surgery, plenty of kids had various meds.

Originally posted by Now_Then
As a young teenager I was quite surprised at the eagerness or doctors to prescribe anti depressants. This must be 10 years back, had a touch of glandular fever so went back to the docs several times with lingering non de script symptoms. I was offered anti depressants several times before any serious diet advice, and more importantly the bloods tests. Even then I knew depression medication wasn't needed. Seemed to be a pretty standard answer to teenage problems at my surgery, plenty of kids had various meds.

Yeah, you are on to something there.
I want to relay a story that kind of goes along with what you posted.

There is a family, the father is in the medical community and he and his wife have a few kids. The mother is keen on getting each kid and even her husband to consistently take meds. (of course this is all legal and the psych recommends it, etc.)

But think about this. A whole family on dope (the legal kind) for various psych problems.
I know this family well and can say that it just isnt needed.
Some have it for A.D.D., others for OCD. - I relayed my experience with OCD in a link in the post above on this page.) And the fact is that it does seem like what you were pointing out, that drugs are now the norm. You are slightly 'off' lets give you things with side effects. Werent suicidal before (you may well be after the meds)...

Again, people wont face up to their problems and here is why.
No one taught them how to.
Many of them are in their mental mess from their social milieu. Beginning with parents who raised them, who were in turn raised in a dysfunctional family...which happened from dysfunctional community, religion, etc.

Point is people have not been properly educated. They have no choice but to run...so it seems.

It is unfortunate, but there is hope. Those that seek will find, as Jesus said.
You dont have to believe in Jesus for this universal truth to be applied, experience it for yourself.

So really thats what it boils down to. A bunch of grown up people that never grew up, and never realized what living is all about. A bunch of over run egos killing each other off.

Its insane, we are technically advanced, but a bit of it is with stupidity.
(lack of wisdom) 'stupid' intelligence is dangerous.

peace

dAlen

Originally posted by dAlen
To put it short...I dont recall school shootings as a common thing until these drugs became the norm.

In my time people didnt have the luxury (thank god) for the crap they have now.
People suffer, but if you press it down...they will pop.

You say that more people then not do not do this. My point is that they are potential candidates, as before we didnt have anyone shooting up schools. To you a couple of school shooting aint bad in the ratio...to me it shouldnt be happening.

Since I don't really know you I don't know when you were in school but contrary to popular belief school shootings did not just start overnight. School murders can be traced back to the 1920's.
en.wikipedia.org...

Most websites only deal with the shootings over the past decade starting with Columbine. Here is a list of school shootings that runs back to 1979 - and other sites will list shootings going back into the 1960's.
www2.indystar.com...

It is harder to gather new stories from the past pre-internet years so you do not hear much about the school shootings that happened in the past. The song "I don't like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats was about this school shooting in 1979: Jan. 29, 1979: Brenda Spencer, 16, opened fire with a .22-caliber rifle at an elementary school across the street from her San Diego, Ca., home. She killed two people and wounded seven because she "didn't like Mondays".

The second high school shooting in Canada took place in 1975.
en.wikipedia.org...

Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was a student at the University of Texas at Austin who killed 14 people and wounded 31 others, as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966. He did this shortly after murdering his wife and mother. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin police.
en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...





[edit on 16-2-2008 by zerotime]