Antidepressant Drugs Causing Epidemic of Mania

It’s abundantly clear that the epidemic of craziness and violence we are witnessing both in America and by U.S. troops abroad is being fueled by dangerous psychotropic drugs, subscription pharmaceuticals that are causing normally sane people to fly off the hook and act out with insane acts of mania or violence.

The alleged shooting of a police officer in Austin by a man taking the anti-anxiety drug Xanax is just one of a plethora of recent incidents fueled by anti-depressant pharmaceuticals – an epidemic of mania that has swept the country.

We've all read posts about the pros and cons of today's plethora of Antidepressant drugs.

However, this article points out some very disturbing trends.

This is just one of a spate of shocking incidents over recent years in which Xanax and other similar pharmaceuticals have played a central role in triggering random violence and mania.

The two recent incidents involving airline officials suffering mental breakdowns during flights were also caused by anti-depressant drugs.

JetBlue pilot Clayton Osbon, who went crazy and began screaming about Al-Qaeda and threatening to take the plane down during an incident last month was described as a “consummate professional” by colleagues. However, experts looking into the case confirm that “several pharmacological issues under scrutiny within the airline industry are likely to get attention in the Osbon case, including the side effects of medicines that pilots sometimes use to fight fatigue and depression.”

“Was Osbon, for instance, among those pilots newly permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use one of four specific antidepression medications, whose potential side effects are known to include hallucination and panic attacks?” reports the Christian Science Monitor.

In a separate incident, an American Airlines flight attendant had to be restrained by passengers after she went on a crazy tirade about crashing the plane and killing everyone onboard. It later emerged that the flight attendant had been on medication to treat a bipolar disorder.

Okay, that's two recent incidents that made the news. Here are a few more, involving young people. Not good!

The Save Project, an organization committed to highlighting the dangers of SSRI drugs, highlights a laundry list of cases where use of anti-depressants, particularly amongst young people, has led to violence. Below is just a partial list.

Eric Harris, the triggerman in the Columbine school shootings, killed his fellow students and took his own life while taking Luvox.

Thirteen year-old Chris Fetters killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.

Twelve year-old Christopher Pittman murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.

Thirteen year-old Mathew Miller hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.

Fifteen year-old Jarred Viktor stabbed his grandmother 61 times after 5 days on Paxil.

Fifteen year old Kip Kinkel (Prozac and RITALIN) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.

Luke Woodham aged 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.

Boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 who in seizure activity from Zoloft had a stand off at the school.

Michael Carneal (Ritalin) a 14-year-old opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded, one of whom was paralyzed.

Young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.

Andrew Golden, aged 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.

TJ Solomon, aged 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.

Rod Mathews, aged 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.

James Wilson, aged 19, (Psychiatric Drugs – various) Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.

Elizabeth Bush aged 13 (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania

Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California

Another boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) had a stand off at the school.

Jarred Viktor aged 15 (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.

Chris Shanahan aged 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.

Antidepressant Drugs Causing Epidemic of Mania

When I read this article it made me think of work just the other day.

I'm the 50 year old Manager, but most of the employees are in their twenties. They were standing around discussing which drugs they were prescribed when they were kids.

As the conversation went on I simply couldn't believe the list of drugs they bandied about. It reminded me of how my friends in our youth talked about baseball cards and comic books.

Every one of them had a history of being on Medication A, being switched to Medication B, having bad effects and trying Medication C only to be put back on Medication A. (There must be an Abbott & Costello skit somewhere in there.)

Yikes! Why didn't more of my classmates get put on this crap? How come we had relatively normal, healthy childhoods without a huge chemical balancing act?

Now we also have a report that over 100,000 military personnel have been taking these drugs.

The connection between anti-depressant drugs and inexplicable and sudden violence is especially prescient given today’s report concerning how “110,000 Army personnel were given antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs,” while on duty last year, prescribed medicines on which psychologists have blamed “a surge in random acts of violence”.

“We have never medicated our troops to the extent we are doing now … And I don’t believe the current increase in suicides and homicides in the military is a coincidence,” Bart Billings, a former military psychologist and combat stress expert, told the Los Angeles Times.

Lawyers are also currently investigating whether Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of massacring 17 Afghan civilians, was influenced by a cocktail of antidepressant drugs that triggered a psychotic episode.

I tend to agree with the articles conclusion:

It’s abundantly clear that the epidemic of craziness and violence we are witnessing both in America and by U.S. troops abroad is being fueled by dangerous psychotropic drugs, subscription pharmaceuticals that are causing normally sane people to fly off the hook and act out with insane acts of mania or violence.

Such shocking incidents will continue to happen at an ever-increasing rate until there is a massive backlash against the pharmaceutical industry and establishment doctors for pushing drugs that are directly causing violence, lunacy and bloodshed.

So what's it going to take before the dots are connected and someone who can actually do something about this steps up to the plate?

I welcome any thoughts you might have.

Peace.

Anti-epilepsy meds do the same thing. I know for a fact that Keppra does.

I've lost faith in modern medicine because of that drug.

They don't really even know how Levetiracetam works yet it got approved by the FDA anyway. AND the list of side effects is longer than the list of symptoms of epilepsy. They say that "you'll probably only get the dizziness or nausea" but almost everyone I've talked to who's taken it says that's a load of crap, with the exception of the really severe side effects (like 'Liver Failure') you wind up with most of them. Huge 'bi-polar' like mood swings, severe irritability, extreme tiredness, loss of memory, stumbling, confusion, etc. OH YEAH, one of the most ironic side-effects is: "May increase risk of seizures"... ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME? It's supposed to treat those!

Modern medicine is a f**king joke.


There's only one drug that ever worked to stop my seizures COMPLETELY with minimal to no side-effects, and I'm not even allowed to mention it on ATS because it is a Schedule I drug.

Protip: If a doctor tries to prescribe you a drug to treat a neurological condition of any kind, just don't do it. The side effects are worse than the actual condition.

what dots do you want connected? i agree big pharma make a lot of money from keeping people ill. on the other hand if a hundred people out of a hundred thousand have bad reactions to certain medications does make the medicine bad?

trust me when i say i have no love for the FDA nor big pharma but this is nothing more than sensationalizing a situation. in your examples you haven't reported their original diagnosis, nor history so how can we summize that it was the medicine that made them do what they did?

reply to post by Hessling

A plausibly realistic point of view. Whoever decides to take on this fight against these drugs is going to be fighting an endless stream of funding for the opposing view.
Also, I found it odd that the author of the article chose to say subscription instead of prescription. What a mad place it would be if people could actually subscribe to these meds The choice of wording leaves me a bit

The real problem isn't the drugs themselves, I bet the drugs do wonders for a very few people that suffer from real anxieties and depressions. But the real problem is the doctor's that prescribe them like it's going out of style. Since these drugs are readily available and it's legal, the general public can't fathom the dangers that go along with these drugs. It's a big epidemic but there's too much money involved. Once this happens, it's gonna be hard for the government to stop the whole dilemma or find an alternative...

reply to post by Hessling


It's been happening for a good many years and the MSM downplays it much more than they sensationalize it. After all, the MSM is in the pocket of Big Pharma, too.

I'm deathly allergic to antidepressants. (Remember when they tried to push SSRIs onto people who are in PAIN? -- they are doing it again, I hear).

So, I consider myself fortunate to be allergic to these things, but it wasn't pleasant nearly dying from them.

hi op

i hate to admit this

i was depressed yrs ago told the doc and he put me on s (cant remember the name)
i took 1 fell asleep for 3 hrs, woke up and spewed everywhere
couldnt keep any fluids or food down for about 24 hrs
i then got restless leg syndrome for a while
that was one tab
told the doc of the side affects
he told me off
said i did not give the tabs enough time to work
since then i only even take an aspirin for a bad hangover (and boiled water)
leave the meds alone..they dont work...i mean the meds for your brain

Doctors can't even agree what the common underlying causes of the disorders that prompt them to prescribe the plethora of meds in the first place. The people are on the meds because symptoms they experience that caused them to seek "professional" medical advice in the first place. If they go off, would they have gone off anyway without the meds?

What are the issues that heavy drugs are prescribed for in the first place? Simply drugging a person with deep issues is only going to suppress the issues until later when they (the issues) come out anyway or they stop taking the drugs (and then the issues come back) .

They have diagnosed nothing, cured nothing.

Like putting a bandaid on a cancer tumor. Might as well prescribe a fifth of vodka. Same result.

I was really pissed off last night but I got drunk and... what was I mad about again?

I am bi-polar and my first episode occurred while I was taking drixoral an antihistamine/decongestant that was prescribed by an ENT doctor in 1977. It later became an OTC medication. Now it's purchase is severely restricted as it contains pseudoephedrine and can be used to make methamphetamine.

My point is, it doesn't have to be an antidepressant that triggers mania. A sinus medication triggered my bi-polar illness.

List of medications containing psuedoephedrine:

Brand names: Afrinol®, Children's Silfedrine®, Chlor-Trimeton® Nasal Decongestant, Congestaclear®, Contac® Maximum Strength 12 hour Cold, Decofed® Liquid, Dibromm, Dimetapp® Decongestant Pediatric Drops, Dimetapp® Maxium Strength Non-Drowsy Decongestant, Drixoral® Non-Drowsy, Efidac® 24 Pseudoephedrine, ElixSure® Cold, ElixSure® Nasal Decongestant, Equate® Suphedrine, Genaphed®, KidKare® Drops, Myfedrine®, PediaCare® Infants Decongestant, Pseudotabs®, Ridafed®, Seudotabs®, Simply Stuffy™, Sinus Decongestant, Sudafed® , Sudafed® Childrens , Sudodrin®, Sudodrine®, Sudogest, Sudogest®, Sudrine®, Superfed®, Suphedrin®, Triaminic® Allergy Congestion, Triaminic® Infant Drops, Triaminic® Softchews® Allergy Congestion, Uni-Sed®, Wal-phed®

Read more: www.answers.com...

Drixoral® Non-Drowsy - You can say that again, I went days without sleep. My psychiatrist had to knock me out with Dalmane - a barbiturate. That was back in 1977.

This is something that I actually have experience with. I was having some severe depression at the end of my teen years due to losing family members and a few other things. The doctors put me on several different medications which caused me to basically go insane. I experienced things I never have before or since (panic attacks, mania, severe anger issues, suicide attempt etc). They found out later that I have bi-polar disorder too so them putting me on depression medication was one of the worst things they could have done.

I have now basically sworn off any type of medication like that and will always try to find natural cures first.

It is seriously scary to lose control of yourself like that.

I would like to point out one thing: the people in the article were already susceptible to potential violent attacks by the nature of their disorders or problems. Did the meds push them over the edge? I don't know. But statistically speaking, that number is not significant when compared to the number of folks who take those meds daily and do not run amok.

I am not trying to insult your thread, OP, which I think is a good one that needs a lot of attention. Just wanted to point out that the numbers are slightly skewed when you consider other factors.

S&F

Maybe they are doing it on purpose to scare the populace. or in order to actually kill off some "useless eaters" But as long as their getting paid nobody changes anything.

Speaking from personal experience, i think these meds are dangerous. i have some pretty serious mental health issues and the doctors have tried me on a whole bunch of different medications. the pills made things so much worse. i had some terrifying episodes on those meds where i became completely enraged and would last out and try to physically attack or kill others. those episodes only ever happened when i was taking the pills. i havent had any episodes like that since i stopped with the medications. the only person i know that has been helped by these pills is my mom, and *many* people i know have taken pills. i once asked one of my doctors why they're prescribed so often when so many people have such serious reactions to them, and his response was "because sometimes they work." i couldnt believe that was his answer...

reply to post by Hessling


I haven't read through all of the post but I have some reservations about the statements you are referencing. Where is the source of the article? I am having an issue with how not so well researched the referenced article is and the generalizations it makes. It is hard to say why these people had reactions like they did, were they completely compliant with their medications? Are the people referenced actually manic to begin with? Mental health and illness go a lot deeper than what medications are being taken, there are issues of a being correctly diagnosed, family support, abuse, affordability of medical care, it's not a clear cut case of medications only. Someone on the down side of rapid bipolar disorder who is in a major depressive disorder can shift back up to mania, it's part of the disorder and has nothing to do with medications, but if they are on an anti depressant and move back up to mania then that medication needs to be stopped. It's not the medication causing the problem, it is the condition itself. Also anti depressant medications don't work immediately, they can take from 2 to 6 weeks before depression starts to subside. The regulation of the medications to get to the proper therapeutic dose for each individual can take time and observations by both the patient, family and doctor. Foods and other medications can also influence how the drug works. Is this an epidemic? I don't think so. I am in my mental health rotation in nursing school, and I can say that there are a whole lot of circumstances that factor into making someone have a psychotic break that cannot be blamed on medications alone.

Psychologists are nothing more then really good salesmen for the pharmaceutical companies.

FandS Hess

these drugs are bad news
I can see lots of people don't get it
and they don't get whats going to happen when they start to cut back on supply...for what ever reason...
record gun sales and all...

The evaluations found one-hundred dead pilots with SSRIs in their systems including forty with Prozac, twenty-six with Zoloft, twenty-one with Paxil, and thirteen with Celexa.....

...The SSRI antidepressant makers are desperate to find new customers, so they recently have been focusing on capturing groups for which the drugs were usually considered off limits. The latest marketing coup managed to open up sales to roughly 614,000 American pilots.

Under a new policy announced on April 5, 2010, pilots diagnosed with depression can seek permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to take one of four SSRIs, including Eli Lilly's Prozac, Pfizer's Zoloft, and Forest Laboratories' Celexa and Lexapro.

"The FAA should reverse its ruling before it's too late and hundreds of lives are lost when a pilot becomes impulsive, suicidal or violent--or just loses his sharpness--under the influence of antidepressant medication," said SSRI expert, Dr Peter Breggin, in an April 19, 2010 Huffington Post commentary.

www.ssristories.com...

Dr. Malcolm Bowers of Yale, found in the late 90's over 200,000 people yearly are hospitalized with antidepressant-induced manic psychosis. They also point out that most go unrecognized as medication-induced, remain un hospitalized, and a threat to themselves and others.

What types of threats from manias?

Pyromania: A compulsion to start fires

Kleptomania: A compulsion to embezzle, shoplift, commit robberies

Dipsomania: An uncontrollable urge to drink alcohol

Nymphomania and erotomania: Sexual compulsions - a pathologic preoccupation with sexual fantasies or activities

Child sex abuse has increased dramatically with even female teachers going manic on these drugs and seducing students. The head of the sex abuse treatment program for Utah estimated 80% of sex crime perpetrators were on antidepressants at the time of the crime. While Karl Von Kleist, an ex-LAPD officer and leading polygraph expert estimated 90% - strong evidence of manic sexual compulsions that demand attention.

Diabetes has skyrocketed, has been linked to antidepressants, and blood sugar imbalances have long been suspected as the cause of mania or bipolar. Anyone who has witnessed someone in insulin shock would see the striking similarity to a violent reaction to an antidepressant.

If there has been any increase in suicide since the black box warning it is due to doctors not knowing how to get patients off these drugs safely.

Clearly, far too many lives are being destroyed in various ways by these drugs.

Dr. Ann Blake-Tracy, holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences with the emphasis on Psychology, and serves as the executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness.

www.rense.com...

reply to post by Danbones


All I am saying is that there are more factors to consider than SSRI's causing epidemic mania. Looking at some stats, ten percent of US population are taking anti depressants:

www.reuters.com...

the US population is 313, 355, 566:

www.census.gov...

10 percent of this population is 31, 335, 556, and knock off 15% of that for children under 12 = 4,700,033.4 americans children, which subtracts to 26, 635, 522.6 of the US population take anti depressants. So of these roughly 26 million who are taking anti depressants, how many of these are having psychotic breaks due to their medications? That is the real question here and I am having a hard time finding statistics which accurately reflect this. Let's put this in perspective please, Blake Tracy is certainly outspoken on her position on this subject, but I am not seeing a whole lot of medical research besides hers that support her position. While I agree that people can have breaks while taking this medication, these medications also do help a lot of people too. I just have a really hard time when such blanket statements come out and it's trying to tie in notable incidences to the whole as a group.

Induced psychosis is fairly understandable when you consider the fact that the original meaning of pharmaceutical comes from the Ancient Greek,"pharmakon", meaning, "poison".

I"Modern medicine" is actually not modern at all.
These are the same potions and spells of the Druids, only known under scientific terminology.

Now you have to ask yourselves: who were the Druids?

I believe it could do that. When I stopped taking Effexor for depression I was worse than before. I wasn't depressed but my anxiety went through the roof. Even to this day (5 years after stopping the med) I can't walk into somewhere crowded without having a panic attack. I started smoking cigarettes because my nerves were all out of whack. I was depressed because of marital problems but instead of recommending counseling I was given a 'happy pill' to fix my issues. This is how doctors practice these days and people are wanting a quick fix rather than actually addressing their mental issues.

Meds are the only thing that helps some. Pulls them out of whatever mental health issue they have.. brain chemistry wonky and such. BUT I feel that a large factor is laziness and education. I take NOTHING my Dr rx until I research the med itself, read reviews online from others who took the med and etc. Im on no antidepressants or the like, but if Im talking something my ENT rx ... I do the same. I was an RN back when and have seen drug reactions and the results. Back then we didnt ( just regular folks) have the HUGE and wonderful database known as the internet at our fingertips. People do now and I feel its laziness that causes some drug reactions. WIth all of the info at your fingertips.. its incredible that anyone would just swallow something wihtout a llittle research! There is just NO excuse. Why do you trust a stranger when he says "here, take this"? Because we are taught that Drs know all and are some sort of mystical gods who heal us. Again, I was an RN working in an ER for around 10 years.. and know Drs. Daily basis working with them. Dated a few. They are not Gods.. trust me. Just regular folks who practice medicine and they DONT know everything, PDRs and DSMs consulted plus a host of other things.. this stuff isnt all in their massive brains on immediate recall to heal you.

A Dr who says.. here.. take this and make an appt in 2 weeks to a person suffering from depression and they DONT speak more at length and run a battery of normal testing just to see if there is a physical cause ( thyroid, send em to an endo if hormonal is suspected.. etc) is just following a little drug guide his pet pharmaceutical co has given him with their top drugs complete with what symptoms a person may have for this drug theyre pushing. There are BY FAR better antidepressants to use than the ones listed in the article in the OP. zoloft, paxil, etc. Im talking old antidepressants with a track record. They never start out on these or give them.. know why? Money and stupidity. The latest greatest isnt always the greatest.. regardless of the hype.


Ive worked with solid folks in my many years, and many were suffering from mental illnesses themselves. These things CAN be treated and they CAN be managed. The refusal to actually **HEAL** a person by these new breed of Psychs is heinous and criminal IMO. There are humans with a disease, they have families and lives.. to play with them because some fool with donuts comes in your office with a suitcase full of hte latest drugs and gives you handfulls of samples.. I just cant express how angry this makes me. Outraged just doesnt cover it.

Parents who feed their children these drugs without heavy investigation and actual effort into seeing what they are forcing their precious child to swallow.. damn near enrage me as much as the docs pushing it. There is no quick fix for your child. You should be vigilant and investigative.. you are your childs advocate.. the only advocate thay have. Do your due diligence as a parent and protect your child. If the child has a problem and NEEDS meds.. then educate yourself. Talk to others who are parents of children with whatever your kid has. Investigate the meds the Drs push, dont accept the first off the cuff diagnosis. Its just so obvious of a thing to do.. and no excuse anymore with the internet.

argh.. my response turned into a rant.. need more coffee I guess!