by Julie Wood It is one thing to see that taking SSRI medications can cause violence in some people, but quite another to make sense of it. In his blog, “Prescription-Only Violence”, Feb 18, 2013, David Healy identifies the three mechanisms through which these drugs can cause a person to do violent things: “The antidepressants now come with black box warnings of suicide … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #3: How do SSRIs cause violence and suicide?
Violence
Lessons from SSRIStories #2: Anecdotal Evidence of the SSRI-Violence Connection
by Julie Wood Summary of Post #1: Hard as it may be to accept, there is evidence that SSRIs, along with some other drugs, legal and illegal, can cause people to become violent. The connection between psychoactive medications and violence is not understood. News reports that mention psychoactive medications in a story about a violent incident tend to treat the drugs as “proof” … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #2: Anecdotal Evidence of the SSRI-Violence Connection
How Do SSRIs (and other medications) Cause Violence and why don’t people spot the connection?
by Julie Wood The connection between SSRIs, violence and suicide For many years, a few medical experts have been trying to raise awareness of the link between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants (and some other medications) and violence. The RxISK.org website Violence Zone flags the issue for people interested in researching the side effects of their … [Read more...] about How Do SSRIs (and other medications) Cause Violence and why don’t people spot the connection?
Study 329 Stories
Kristina Gehrki It is refreshing to see the BMJ publish an article highlighting the corruption, collusion and dangerously unethical behaviors among the pharmaceutical and psychiatric industries, university medical departments and government "regulators." I'd like to tell my teen-aged daughter all about the "retraction." Unfortunately, she died from SSRI-induced akathisia, … [Read more...] about Study 329 Stories
Study 329
RxISK's last story featured a young woman who went on Paxil soon after the Keller et al version of Study 329 was published. We would love to hear more from anyone who was put on an SSRI during this period or who was recruited into an SSRI trial. What were you told about the risks and what happened to you? Study 329 has just gone live. The Restoring Study 329 article with its … [Read more...] about Study 329
Antidepressants and Violence: The Numbers
How on earth could an antidepressant drug drive someone to murder? In the past two columns RxISK has heard from two people who know they can. In The Man Who Thought He Was A Monster, Steindor Erlingsson shared his own story of being tormented with urges to stab his wife and young children while on antidepressants. These were utterly alien thoughts, which horrified him – he … [Read more...] about Antidepressants and Violence: The Numbers
The Man who thinks he is a Monster: Sertraline and Violence
Editorial Note: See The Man who thought he was a Monster Sunday’s child is full of grace He was born on a Sunday. He had an average background with few health, physical or mental problems. His main difficulty was a certain social anxiety. He went to University to study Neuroscience – probably to try and understand people. His first attempt to seek help was from the … [Read more...] about The Man who thinks he is a Monster: Sertraline and Violence
The Man Who Thought he was a Monster: Antidepressants and Violence
This post by Steindór Erlingsson asks awkward questions in the week when the jury is likely to deliver a verdict in the sentencing part of James Holmes' trial for the shooting dead of twelve people in Aurora Colorado at the premiere of the Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises, Holmes had no intentions of harming anyone before being put on Zoloft. His dose was increased twice and … [Read more...] about The Man Who Thought he was a Monster: Antidepressants and Violence
Because Veterans Are Worth It
Editorial Note from Johanna Ryan: Cesar Ruvalcaba is a veteran of the U.S. Army, 10th Mountain Division, and served in Somalia in the early 1990’s. He’s now a dedicated antiwar activist and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW). He told this story May 25 at a Memorial Day rally in Chicago organized by antiwar veterans. As Cesar indicated, many Iraq-era veterans … [Read more...] about Because Veterans Are Worth It
The Year of My Life that was Stolen
This post is by Katinka Blackford-Newman, who can be seen here running a half-marathon to raise money for RxISK but who also since the events described here has been involved in several criminal trials, believing that it is important that juries get to hear stories like hers when faced with the challenge of assessing what contribution a drug might have made to a crime. There … [Read more...] about The Year of My Life that was Stolen