Here’s the silly headline, for of all: “Psych meds linked to 90% of school shootings“.
Here are some amusing paragraphs:
Some 90 percent of school shootings over more than a decade have been linked to a widely prescribed type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, according to British psychiatrist Dr. David Healy, a founder of RxISK.org, an independent website for researching and reporting on prescription drugs.
Though there has been no definitive confirmation that drugs played a role in the Newtown, Conn., assault, that killed 20 children and six adults, media have cited family members and acquaintances saying suspect Adam Lanza was taking prescription medication to treat “a neurological-development disorder,” possibly Aspergers.
Healy cautioned that the public needs “to wait to find out what Adam Lanza was on, and whether his behavior does fit the template of a treatment-induced problem.”
However, in an email to WND, he said he suspected prescribed psychiatric medications was the cause of Lanza’s violent behavior.
Healy said that while the public waits to learn more about Lanza, there are two general points that can be made.
First, he said, “psychotropic drugs of pretty well any group can trigger violence up to and including homicide.”
“Second, the advocates of treatment claim both that it is the illness and not the drugs that causes violence and that we are leaving huge numbers of people untreated.”
But Healy argued that if this were the case, “we should not find that comfortably over 90 percent of school shootings are linked to medication intake.”
I’m sorry, this is just too depressing to fisk properly. I think I’ll leave it as an exercise for you, our readers.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. If the mass murderers in question were obviously mentally ill, it should be no surprise that they were therefore being treated for that mental illness. It follows logically that we would expect a large number of mass shooters to be on psychotropic medication or have recently discontinued use of such drugs.
Bingo. And if we know this fact, how do we know the patients involved in the shootings were taking their meds? It is not uncommon for mentally disturbed individuals to interrupt their medication.
Why post this rambling unscientific article at all?
Taking it apart is like trying to figure out which parts of the leftover salad smell funny.
Because sometimes the stoopid, it just burns.
Herewith, from the FDA’s website is the “Black Box” warning label to be affixed to all SSRI class medications:
“Suicidality and Antidepressant Drugs
Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Insert established name] or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction in risk with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Depression and certain other psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide. Patients of all ages who are started on antidepressant therapy should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber. [Insert Drug Name] is not approved for use in pediatric patients. [The previous sentence would be replaced with the sentence, below, for the following drugs: Prozac: Prozac is approved for use in pediatric patients with MDD and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Zoloft: Zoloft is not approved for use in pediatric patients except for patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Fluvoxamine: Fluvoxamine is not approved for use in pediatric patients except for patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).] (See Warnings: Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk, Precautions: Information for Patients, and Precautions: Pediatric Use)”
And from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, we have the EMA’s decisions on this same class of drug:
“The review of serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) medicines looked at the potential risk of suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents treated with these products.
The Agency’s scientific committee, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), concluded at its 19-22 April 2005 meeting that suicide-related behaviour (suicide attempt and suicidal thoughts), and hostility (predominantly aggression, oppositional behaviour and anger) were more frequently observed in clinical trials among children and adolescents treated with these antidepressants compared to those treated with placebo.
The Agency’s committee is therefore recommending the inclusion of strong warnings across the whole of the European Union to doctors and parents about these risks. Doctors and parents will also be advised that these products should not be used in children and adolescents except in their approved indications.”
http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/human/referrals/SSRI_and_SNRI/human_referral_000134.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac0580024e9a&murl=menus/regulations/regulations.jsp
Draw your own conclusions….
I do. Always. Here’s the first inference I’d draw: you don’t recognize the logical problem here. The analogy with cancer is exact: pretty much everyone who dies of cancer will have been treated with anti-cancer drugs. By this reasoning, anti-cancer drugs are causing these people to die.
As a person who’s had depression trouble myself, though, I’d point out something else: let’s say you’re a depressed teenager. Really depressed, the sort of depressed that leaves you nearly unable to get out of bed. All around you are people telling you to just pull up your socks and get over it, or telling you that you’re just lazy, or that you’re malingering. You start on SSRIs and you begin to have a little more energy. If you’re inclined to suicide, suddenly you are enough better you can organize a suicide attempt. If you miss that exit, you start feeling a little bit better, you have more energy and now figure that there are a good number of kids who really do have conflicts with parents or authority figures. Suddenly you have the energy, the will, to fight back.
The truth is that it was well known before SSRIs were invented that the dangerous time for suicide was when a depressed person first began to feel a little bit better.
For your analogy to be correct there would have to be some sort of widespread linkage between drugs used to treat cancer and the causes of cancer itself.
This is generally not the case.
For obvious reasons, there is sensitivity on this issue. You personally were/are apparently on this type of medication and obviously you don’t want to be lumped into the same classification as the murderer.
Likewise there are plenty of parents with the best of intentions who likewise medicated their children for various reasons and are now second guessing their decisions.
In plenty of cases, I actually agree with the practice.
However, I’m at the same time not going to be willfully blind to the negative repercussions.
There is enough evidence and enough questions regarding the use of SSRI’s that it DOES warrant a thorough investigation to determine if these drugs are simply present in the murderers because they were already mentally ill, or if the drugs themselves are responsible for a person who was mentally ill but harmless becoming violent and aggressive.
In SSRI drugs you have medications that by intent are ‘mood altering’.
It is also a fact that there is a lot of evidence, so much so that not only the FDA but ALSO the EMA have drawn the same conclusions, that there is an inherent hazard in the use of these drugs.
They specifically are stating that the use of the medication INCREASES the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior.
That’s not me saying it, that’s not someone in a tinfoil hat saying it – it’s both American and European medical boards saying it.
These agencies became so concerned over this danger that they both now require a black box warning label to that effect, with the EMA going further than the FDA and including additional warnings about hostile behavioral changes.
Additionally, there IS widespread evidence that certain ‘mood altering’ drugs can result in people’s conditions drastically and dangerously worsening – after all, those drugs ARE by intent ‘mood altering’.
In the latest shooting, the mother of the murderer expressed concern about her son becoming ever more violent and hostile.
This is in keeping with the black box warnings.
The shooter committed suicide.
Suicidal thoughts and behavior are likewise one of the hazards the FDA and the EMA are warning of.
Whether you like it or not, or are sensitive about it or not, the issue requires a thorough investigation to determine if it is the cause, or perhaps one of several causes, of this murderer committing the crimes he did. If it is not one of the causes, then the practice is vindicated.
The fact remains that we did not always have these kinds of routine mass murders taking place, and that the frequency has increased. We’ve always had guns, we’ve always had play violence (cowboys and indians as children) and to my knowledge our genetic makeup hasn’t changed that drastically in the past generation or two – so we need to figure out what IS different that is resulting in this carnage.
SSRI’s are a suspect worthy of looking into if only to eliminate it as a potential cause.