In the wake of a tragedy such as the Theater 9 shooting in Aurora, Colorado, it becomes necessary to ask some tough questions about the possible causes so that in the future violence may be prevented. Guns are an obvious target here, but few commentators have considered the role that certain antidepressant medications have played in similar shootings over the last decade. Did they also play a role in the Aurora tragedy?
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It has recently been revealed that James Holmes, the alleged Aurora Theater 9 shooter, was seeing a psychiatrist. While it is unknown at this time what specific psychiatric medications Holmes may have been taking, he would not be the first who while on various psychotropic drugs committed an act of homicidal or suicidal rage.
Nearly all of the recent shooters, from Columbine to Virginia Tech to the Rep. Gifford case (as well as many other, less publicized instances) had been receiving some sort of mental health treatment when they unleashed violence on their friends, colleagues, or loved ones. It is not in fact the case, as some mental health pundits suggest, that many of these shooters were not getting help. Quite the opposite – many shooters were often on medications, drugs that could have caused their violent behavior.
Journalist Allison Bass, author of Side Effects, whose reporting at the Boston Globe was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, has this eye-opening post on her blog about the corpse-littered history of antidepressants. She writes: “In the 25 years since Prozac and the other SSRI antidepressants have been on the market, there has been a long litany of cases like Crespi's, where someone with no history of violence, became agitated and violent after taking these drugs, either killing themselves or their loved ones.” Many more stories documenting such unexpected, violent behavior in the wake of antidepressant use can be found on SSRIStories.
The military world is no exception to the apparent antidepressant-induced violence. Dr. Peter Breggin writes about a spectacular increase in violence among U.S. servicemen that correlates with a significant increase in use of antidepressants, concluding that the drugs are dangerous and cause in some who take them homicidal or suicidal fury: “antidepressants never cure biochemical imbalances. Instead, they always cause them. There are no known biochemical imbalances in the brains of depressed people until they start taking toxic psychiatric drugs and every person who takes one of these drugs end up with a significant biochemical disturbance in the brain. That's how the drugs work – by disrupting normal biochemical processes in the brain.” The bottom line, according to Breggin: “Antidepressants are a hoax – in this case, a hoax that is killing members of our armed services.”
Article comments
1 - Debra K Hamidian
I want to say somethng about this case. I want to know what's up with the sudden abrupt change in pictures. Did they actually show what it looked like in that apartment. I didn't look; im bipolar. I don't go through the window opening of depression; nevermmind a door. How could he imitate a scene he hasn't seen? Why was he so drugged up the day of court. Is that to make him look crazy. I know one thing for sure; I know mental illness. I am bipolar, my brother schizophrenic, and my grandmother was a nurse at the state mental hospital. What they describe as the actions of a schizophrenic doesn't make sense at all. They said the AZ shooter of the senator was schizophrenic and ended up being an angry man that drinked a great deal. There is 5 websites with the correct diagnoses and maybe 100 with the wrong one (tv opinions from md commentators that never evaluated the guy). It's brutal out here while everyone scares the hell out of people about us. We have been hiding in the closet and listening to our fell coworkers talk about us and insults galore. The insults on tv now our outragesous. A lwayer told me last week if you are drunk angry with a gun; you are now bipolar. So, I beg you; take us back to the medieval area of time and call me demon possessed. That way, I can atheist as buddies. The definition of someone that walks in and kills and kills and kills is a cold hearted evil murderer. Has nothing to do with bipolar and schizophrenic. A poor ignorant backwoods trashy man with a gun and a six pack has nothing to do with bipolar when he has his angry fit and shoots a gun.
2 - Ken C
Very timely. Terrible and sad, about Colo shooter. Every time I hear about such unspeakable acts of violence (there seem to be more and more of them) now my attention gets focused on whether or not anti depressants were involved.
I have my own story to relate - about how the effects from hyperstimulation on an antidepressant has nearly destroyed my life. When I was overdosing and high on those drugs, I was so absolutely ballistic out of my mind, I have to honestly say that the people around me were lucky, as was I, that I didn't have access to a weapon.
i was under a therapist's care and a doctor/psychiatrist who was treating me at he time.
Thank god I do not feel that way now (events were about 19 years ago), but the aftermath of being a shrieking raving lunatic for a while caused extreme and toxic damage to my reputation that will probably never be restored.