The Hidden Dangers Of Psychiatric Medications
Reading the news about the mass shooter in Maine, his prescription drug history, and the fact that he was in a psychiatric facility for two weeks, I was reminded of an incident that occurred in my childhood.
My mother's work colleague was suffering from depression. He tried to get in to see a psychiatrist, but it was a two-month wait. So naturally, he went to see a general practitioner for his depression and was prescribed Zoloft.
He developed a strange “tic” (Tics are sudden twitches, movements, or sounds that people do repeatedly), where he would pick at his bald head until it bled. His doctor decided to double the medication, and some weeks later he killed himself.
I was also prescribed Zoloft as a teenager, and I began to pull at my sleeve, up and down, up and down, up and down. Repeatedly. At times I felt I couldn’t control it, but I didn’t realize this particular side effect was called “tics”
My story is a bit different though, because I finally ended up seeing a psychiatrist when it finally became clear to my own doctor that this was beyond his scope of practice.
This doctor took me off Zoloft immediately, the first appointment, commenting “this isn’t right for you.” He then prescribed me one new medicine, at a very low dosage (2.5mg) and wanted to see me once a week. He told me if I saw any negative changes to my mood at all, to contact him right away and follow his instructions.
This was very different from my general practitioner who prescribed 40 milligrams of Zoloft and wanted to see me after three months. After a grueling 3 month period with the new doctor, I felt medically balanced. For the first time, in a very long time, I felt mentally well. I felt good.
The truth is a lot of these medicines, marketed as simple solutions, are in fact dangerous. Strattera can cause anger and aggression, and all antidepressants and serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have black box label warnings regarding increased suicidal ideation in teens and young adults.
There is additional evidence that SSRI medications and ADHD medications can also cause people to become not just suicidal, but homicidal. And despite the lamentations of “ableism” and “fake news” regarding the link between prescription medicines and violent incidents, there are 10 well-known cases of homicidal events that were linked to psychiatric medication.
Zoloft in particular was implicated in one of the worst mass shooting events in US history, committed by James Holmes, known as the Batman theater shooter. When he initially saw Dr. Lynn Fenton, a psychiatrist, he told her he had intrusive thoughts of killing others. He then was prescribed Zoloft, 50 milligrams.
At his next appointment, he told Dr. Fenton that the Zoloft hadn’t helped his obsessive thoughts.
Yet his dosage was increased from 50mg a day to 100mg. After making this change, Dr. Fenton noted at his next appointment a personality change in Holmes, and he told her that his homicidal thoughts had increased.
She wrote in her notes “Psychotic level thinking…Guarded, Paranoid, hostile thoughts he won’t elaborate on.”
Dr. Healy, another psychiatrist who was brought on to examine the case, firmly believed it was the Zoloft that was causing these problems for Holmes, and it was at that moment that Holmes should have been taken off the Zoloft.
“There’s every evidence that if the drugs are suiting a person that an increase in the dose might be helpful-and I use these drugs even though they cause a problem”
Yet his doctor increased his dosage again from 100 milligrams to 150 milligrams. It wasn’t on Dr. Fenton’s radar that Zoloft could have been causing the personality changes that she was seeing.
And disaster is exactly what happened.
He stopped seeing her, and he abruptly stopped taking his medication around June 26th, 3 weeks before the shooting.
Professor Peter Tyler, an expert in SSRIs stated that abruptly stopping these medications is very unwise because your mental health symptoms come back stronger than they were before you started taking them, and withdrawal can last 6-7 weeks.
In other words, the professor theorized that Holmes' obsessive thoughts of homicide, which originally prompted him to seek treatment, increased after he stopped taking the medication, and all evidence presented at trial points to that conclusion.
Knowing everything that I know now, I have to wonder: Would my mom's coworker still be alive had his doctor not doubled his dosage?
And if a psychiatrist can make this mistake, what chances does a nurse practitioner, a physician’s assistant, or even a general practitioner have of catching this before the situation becomes deadly?
Many people know, from firsthand experience that these medications have the power to change lives for the better. However, the danger of these medicines continues to be understated by the mainstream media and the medical-industrial complex. Even doctors themselves are made unaware of the potential risks these medicines have, as illustrated by the Holmes case.
Something as simple as informing people to lock up/remove the weapons from their homes before starting a new medication could in fact save lives.
In the meantime, I haven’t dared mess with my medications. Although I’m not entirely satisfied with my control over my ADHD symptoms, or even my anxiety or depression, I feel as though trying anything new would be far too risky.
Prayer, meditation, and journaling have no side effects.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Great article. Thank you. I am now wondering about the teen suicide rate increases and potential impact from SSRIs