Virginia Tech massacre, crimes of violence, drugs and SSRI anti-depressants
Just last week I was telling my wife that, after having heard hundreds
of violent crime stories from victims and their families over the years, it was my conclusion that in the vast majority of cases, the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, or prescription drugs, and that without this influence, the violent crime probably would not have taken place.
Today I’ve had a chance to finally catch up on some of the news regarding the Virginia Tech massacre. I’ve looked through quite a few of the articles, and nowhere was it mentioned that Cho Seung-Hui was on an anti-depressant medication. My bet, however, was that he was on an SSRI (e.g., Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, etc…
SSRI’s are given out like breath fresheners in this country; sometimes it seems as if every patient I see is on one. Unfortunately, most physicians don’t realize how radically these drugs can alter someone’s brain to transform personality and thought.
To me, it is remarkable that many of the mass killers in this country were on an SSRI at the time of the massacres (Columbine included) as noted in this article, and it would not be surprising if it’s eventually revealed that Cho Seung-Hui was on one too.
The public (and the many physicians who liberally prescribe SSRIs) needs to be better informed of their consequences- not only for homicide, but also suicide. Their marked potential for heightening aggression and triggering violence (both against others and self) is clearly well documented. [Reference 1] To quote the article’s abstract:
Evidence from many sources confirms that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs) commonly cause or exacerbate a wide range of abnormal mental and behavioral conditions. These adverse drug reactions include the following overlapping clinical phenomena: a stimulant profile that ranges from mild agitation to manic psychosis, agitated depression, obsessive preoccupations that are alien or uncharacteristic of the individual, and akathisia. Each of these reactions can worsen the individual’s mental condition and can result in suicidality, violence, and other forms of extreme abnormal behavior. Evidence for these reactions is found in clinical reports, controlled clinical trials, and epidemiological studies in children and adults.
This is the information drug companies don’t want you (or your physician) to know about. Not when $8 billion/year is at stake.
Let’s just hope the guys who have their fingers on the Big Red Button aren’t on these meds….
[Reference 1]: Ethical Human Sciences, Journal of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psycholoy. Springer Publishing Company, New York, NY, USA.
Mullah Cimoc say this part of destroying of usa for punish for war crime in iraq.
but go back long time. this because male of ameriki, and all western society, alienated or some say obsolete. this causing the frustration and go insane.
One famous ameriki satanist naming anton levay, him book call “secret life of a satanist”, him discussing this same subject so long ago and predicting accurately what happen this killing and why happenign this kind of the killing.
I am a psychologist and a university instructor who has worked with inmates and parolees, most of whom were under the influence of illegal drugs at the time. This article helped me to realize the potential role that prescribed drugs can play in terms of disinhibition of extreme behavior.
I wanted to let survivors of this massacre understand that we share in your anguish, your grief, and your profound sense of loss over this senseless act. Here is a song I wrote to express our sympathies:
Virginia’s Tears
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr. BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/VT.mp3
Very nice song, Bruce. Thanks for sharing.
While I agree that SSRI’s are often prescribed without closely monitoring a patient for behavior changes, someone with an untreated depression can be quite agressive.
My general experience has been that it is much easier to deal with someone on their SSRI than off of them.
SSRI’s do radically change your thinking. I have just been put on sertraline (Zoloft) at half the usual dose (25mg) and I was hypomanic for 4 days, juggling, dancing, not sleeping with pronounced akisthesia. The shrink then sent me home and increase my dose to 50mg and I became suicidal. I felt completely disconnected from life, my three children, and if it wasn’t for the intervention of a social worker I would be dead. Product notes for sertraline
MANIA
Sertraline should be used with caution in patients with a history of mania/hypomania and therapy should be discontinued in any patient entering a manic phase.
and
PSYCHOMOTOR RESTLESSNESS
The use of sertraline has been associated with the development of psychomotor restlessness, which clinically may be very similar to akathisia, characterised by a subjective unpleasant or distressing restlessness and need to move often accompanied by an inability to sit or stand still. This is most likely to occur within the first few weeks of treatment. In patients who develop these symptoms, increasing the dose may be detrimental and it may be necessary to review the use of sertraline.
I found this “Actually, when a family doctor (GP) or psychiatrist is observing a patient in a “euphoric” state of being, this should ring warning bells immediately! The drug induced (iatrogenic) conditions Akathisia & Mania are well documented in the medical literature. Drug induced Mania, an abnormally elated mental state, typically characterized by feelings of euphoria, racing thoughts and talkativeness, is a “forerunner” of Akathisia, a neurologically driven agitation ranging from mild leg tapping, feeling “caffeinated” to severe panic, an extreme manic state and hyper-sensitivity of the nervous system. Akathisia can lead to suicidal, aggressive and/or homicidal thoughts and behaviours. When a doctor or psychiatrist is observing symptoms of mania and/or akathisia in a patient, SSRI-AntiDepressant use should be discontinued immediately!”
Thanks. Here’s another one for the folks at Virginia Tech:
Today in Virginia
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/TinV.mp3
According to Dr. Irving Kirsch in Prevention & Treatment, “there is now unanimous agreement that the mean difference between response to SSRI antidepressant drugs and response to inert placebo is very small. It is so small that, despite sample sizes involving hundreds of participants, 57% of the SSRI trials funded by the pharmaceutical industry failed to show a significant difference between drug and placebo. Most of these negative data were not published and were accessible only by gaining access to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documents.
Various methods were used to manipulate the results of SSRI drug studies to insure a favorable outcome:
1) Responders to the placebo are eliminated at the beginning of the study. (Placebo washout)
2) Benzodiazepine sedatives were given to mask the SSRI induced agitation.
3) Unfavorable drug studies are buried in the file cabinet and not disclosed to the public.
4) Miscoding suicidal events as “emotional lability”, and homicidal events as “aggression” to hide suicidal events from regulators.
5) False attribution of suicide to the placebo arm.
6) Hiring ghost writers to make the medical articles more favorable.
7) Cash settlements for SSRI drug litigants which seals records and withholds unfavorable drug studies from the public.
For more information and links see my Paxil, Prozac, and SSRI Induced Suicide Newsletter
Jeffrey Dach MD
I have lived with depression since I was about 6 years old. I found myself wary about depression medications as they became popular, thinking, these things are altering you BRAIN, for God’s sake, these are chemicals with effects on the tissues that have you apprehending who you are, interpreting sensory data, making decisions! It is a delicate precision instrument that should not be dealt with chemically when one can help its problems organically (say, with cognitive therapy, persistence in behaviors counter to those the illness compels, etc.) Brain drugs most definitely have their place, but they have seeped out of that place in the last 25 years or so. For the sake of general public safety and health, I hope that trend reverses itself. If more folks like yourself speak up, there is hope for that.
Hi Catherine- I like your choice of words: ‘delicate precision instrument’. Very, very true.
Not enough people understand the brain is the most delicate and sensitive organ in our body. Even slight imbalances can have very significant effects. The very foods we eat and the quality of the air we breath markedly influence brain function.
This is a great tutorial thanks!m
To Ron H.,
Akathisia, and its attendant symptoms of violence, can occur during withdrawal from various antidepressants, as well as other psychiatric medications. The medical literature contains many reports of withdrawal akathisia. Anecdotal reports of withdrawal akathisia can also be found on drug withdrawal boards.
Wyeth pharmaceuticals has homicidal ideation listed as an adverse effect of taking its antidepressant Effexor. Given that such a listing would likely reduce sales of the drug, it is pretty damning evidence that the drug precipitates violence in some people.
I have personally experienced homicidal thoughts while adversely reacting to an antidepressant. These thoughts were associated with akathisia, and occurred when I felt confined, either physically or psychologically. The thoughts were not directed at people who had done me any harm in the past; in fact they were often directed at strangers or people who had been exceptionally nice to me. They were overwhelming, and had to be fought against. Once the drug was removed, the thoughts dissipated (though the akathisia remains.)
I am normally pathologically passive, but this drug made me into someone I did not remotely recognize.
Jenny
Many physicians seem to at least begin to realize the potentially dangerous side effects of the SSRI antidepressants instead of blaming the patient.
The time has now come to recognise the totally devastating physical and mental withdrawal problems that can last for years and that has ruined the lives of many unahppy people. whose brains and bodies just don´t heal and get back to pre drug state. Some of them have had bad side effects while on the drug which makes it impossible to resume medication to relieve the totally incapacitating withdrawal.
These drugs don´t only work on the brain. Serotonin receptors have so far been identified in the gastrointestinal channel, the heart, the kidneys, the lungs and in various endothelial cells throughout the body. No wonder these drugs can make people really ill and no wonder the withdrawal can incapacitate a person for a long time. To add insult to injury, the vast majority of physicians tend to blame the patient and claim that it´s “all in their heads and this proves they really need to be on drugs”. Then why were these patients not physically ill before the started taking these poisons?
Pythia- unfortunately, many physicians do indeed blame patients. And as you say, these drugs do work on multiple body systems…