Intertesting during this whole gun debate no one in the media questions the Mental Health issues that have had an effect on school shooting and other violence. Most of them have side effects of suicidal tendencies. Maybe because most of these drug mfr's are sponsors of the programs discussing this topic. Here's some facts for you: Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public. Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded. Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event. Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac. Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft. Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days. Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on 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, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others. A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school. Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded.. A 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, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others. TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates. Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat. James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from 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, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times. Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman. Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister. Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications. Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants. Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled. Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself. Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002. Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”) Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002, (Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.) Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage. Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet. Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill. Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms. A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased. Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.” Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine. Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system. Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide. Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone. Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school. Missing from list… 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds…. What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21…… killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24??….. killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado on a mix of 4 Pyshcotrophic meds. What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct Roberts is the only one that I haven’t heard about being on drugs of some kind.
That's the problem, we only hear about this on the frindges because it doesn't catch the headlines like gun control. I don't know if what Jason posted was completely accurate but even if it is mostly accurate it is symptomatic of a huge issue in the US. The scary thing is we rely on these same people that have issues to take their meds by choice and be responsible when obviously that was an issue to start. I've experienced this first hand with a family member. She has declared herself "cured" countless times and stopped taking meds "because I feel better", only to slip quickly back to her old ways because that chemical mask was gone. Not to mention the side effects of these drugs like Jason was pointing out. Taking care of the mental health issues at hand should be the main focus. With that said unfortunately I can't say I have any answers. One stat I would like to see is if there was a proportional change from the reduction in the number of people in mental institutions to the increase in the number of people in correctional institutions over the last 30 years.
What we really need it to get off the medication. Most medications have 20 side effects that sound worse than what they are trying to cure, so a doctor gives them meds to counteract the side effects of that drug and so on and so on.
Most of these meds actually HELP these type of patients become more sociably acceptable and with their depression....and some of the ones you listed simply treat ADD. People act like those taking depression meds are worsening their condition by taking meds...99.9% of the time the exact opposite is true. Fact of the matter is, they would likely be even MORE mentally unstable without these meds. While I agree that over medication is a problem with America these days, blaming the pills for mentally disturbed people is no less of a cop out than blaming the gun they held. Bottom line, these people are mentally ill. We need to look at how insurance coverage works with psychiatric patients, especially those without court mandates for crimes already committed. You essentially have to already do something wrong before they will begin to look into your mental status...and it shouldn't be that way.
I agree but there are times when the side effects of these drugs that are meant to help the mentally ill worsen their situation. People on these meds should be closely monitored. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2
There are some people I deal with on a daily basis that I would hate to see without their psychotropic drugs. While I feel those types of medications are over prescribed, I do feel they greatly benefit those that need them most.
Most are but it falls back on the parenting to follow up with their kids. Something that's a lost art these days.
I'm not putting the blame on the pill. It's more on society as a whole. We look for the easy solution to everything. You gotta kid that is hyperactive, easy fix. let's just put him on Ritalin. Your depressed, Get some Zoloft and everything will be better. How about we work through the problems we have instead of just medicating these people. Find out why a person is depressed and work on fixing those issues. Kids hyperactive, put him in a bunch of activities to keep him engaged. It's just like fat people getting lyposuction. Sure you suck out 50 pounds of fat and look better, but your still the same person with the same eating defects. You just look a little better for a while. Medications only mask symptoms and do nothing to address the underlying problems.
I normally wouldn't agree with a pusher, but in this case, I agree with Trevor. Blaming medications is like blaming the gun. Agree, again.
Yes, to some degree but parents aren't psychiatrist. The parent should ensure that their child is getting the monitoring they need. But in many cases, you're dealing with adults. Like in the sandy hook case. He was 20. Society needs to ensure these people are getting the help. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2
Not saying I'm blaming the meds either but you forgot one which I found surprising. Cho Seung Hui, the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 32 fellow students in a shooting rampage, was taking antidepressant drugs. Thank God the following percentages aren't higher.
