The Violent Side Effects of Antidepressants that Many Ignore
October 03, 2013
Story at-a-glance
Antidepressant-induced violence and homicide is an international
problem, but it is particularly apparent in the US due to the
widespread use (and misuse) of these drugs
31 commonly-prescribed drugs are disproportionately associated
with cases of violent acts. Five of the top 10 most
violence-inducing drugs are antidepressants. Commonly used ADHD
drugs are also on the list
Research has found that one in every 250 subjects taking Paxil
or Prozac were involved in a violent episode. In a study group
of 25,000 people, this included 31 assaults and one homicide
ADHD drugs were responsible for nearly 23,000 emergency room
visits in 2011—a more than 400% increase in ER visits due to
adverse reactions to such drugs in a mere six years
The American Psychiatric Association recently issued a statement
urging doctors and patients to reconsider the practice of using
anti-psychotic medications as the first line of treatment for
dementia, behavior problems, and insomnia
By Dr. Mercola
In light of a long list of mass shootings over the past
several years, the causative role of psychiatric drugs in
violent events will undoubtedly have to be evaluated
and addressed at some point. Personally, I’d vote for sooner,
rather than later.
Antidepressants in particular have a well-established history
of causing violent side effects, including suicide and homicide.
In a recent Scientific American1
article, the author states:
“Once again, antidepressants have been linked to an
episode of horrific violence. The New York Times2
reports that Aaron Alexis, who allegedly shot 12 people to
death at a Navy facility in Washington, DC, earlier this
week, received a prescription for the antidepressant
trazodone3
in August.”
The drug in question, trazodone, has been associated with:4
“New or worsening depression; thinking about harming
or killing yourself, or planning or trying to do so; extreme
worry; agitation; panic attacks; difficulty falling asleep
or staying asleep; aggressive behavior; irritability; acting
without thinking; severe restlessness; and frenzied abnormal
excitement.”
The naval yard shooting is just the latest event to bring
questions about prescription medications to the fore, but it
bears noting that in this particular case no evidence
has yet been released confirming that the shooter had the drug
in his system at the time of the massacre.
Still, questions about the safety, or lack thereof, of
antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs really need to be
addressed regardless of whether they were instrumental in this
particular case. Just last year, a Canadian judge ruled that a
teenage boy murdered his friend because of the effects of
Prozac.
When will such side effects be taken seriously? Just how many
people have to kill themselves or others before a drug is
considered too dangerous to be prescribed?
In a paper titled Antidepressants and Violence: Problems
at the Interface of Medicine and Law,5David Healy, a British professor of psychiatry at Cardiff
University and an authority on side effects of psychiatric
drugs, writes:
“Legal systems are likely to continue to be faced
with cases of violence associated with the use of
psychotropic drugs, and it may fall to the courts to demand
access to currently unavailable data. The problem is
international and calls for an international response.”
Potential Side Effects of Antidepressants = Violence and
Worsened Depression
In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised6
the labeling requirements for antidepressant medications (SSRI’s
and others), warning that:
“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.”
These labeling revisions were in large part driven by
lawsuits, in which pharmaceutical companies were forced
to reveal previously undisclosed drug data.
For example, a civil lawsuit filed in 20047
charged GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) with fraud, claiming the drug
manufacturer hid results from studies on Paxil showing the drug
did not work in adolescents and in some cases led to suicidal
ideation. Rather than warning doctors of such potential side
effects, GSK actually encouraged them to prescribe the drug to
teens and children.
According to DrugWatch.com,8
GSK has agreed to pay out more than $1 billion to settle more
than 800 different lawsuits related to Paxil—and that’s over and
above the $3 billion it agreed to pay to settle the Department
of Justice’s investigation into
illegal marketing of Paxil and other drugs!
In an effort to gather the necessary data on adverse side
effects, Healy and other healthcare experts have formed an
organization called RxISK.9
It’s a free, independent website where patients, doctors, and
pharmacists can report side effects and research prescription
drugs of all kinds. I’d encourage you to bookmark it and refer
to it when needed.
Antidepressants and ADHD Drugs Top List of Most
Violence-Inducing Drugs
Please note that antidepressants are not the only type of
drugs associated with violent, homicidal behavior, but they
are among the most common suspects. A study10
by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices published in 2010
identified no less than 31 commonly-prescribed drugs that are
disproportionately associated with cases of violent acts.
Topping the list is the quit-smoking drug Chantix, followed by
Prozac and Paxil, and drugs used to treat ADHD.
The data was collected from the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting
System (VAERS), and it's well worth noting here that only an
estimated one to 10 percent of all side effects are ever
reported to VAERS, so the fact that more than 1,500 violent acts
were actually reported as being linked to any given drug is
pretty amazing. The vast majority of side effects, regardless of
what they are, are typically blamed on something else and
connections are brushed aside as "coincidental."
In all, five of the top 10 most violence-inducing drugs were
found to be antidepressants:
Fluoxetine (Prozac)
Paroxetine (Paxil)
Fluvoxamine (Luvox)
Venlafaxine (Effexor)
Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
According to Professor Healy, a study by the Drug Safety
Research Unit in Southampton showed that one in every 250
subjects taking Paxil or Prozac were involved in a violent
episode. In a study group of 25,000 people, this included 31
assaults and one homicide. In 2011, a whopping 14 million
prescriptions for Paxil and more than 25.5 million prescriptions
for Prozac were written.11
This could potentially equate to some 158,000 drug-induced
incidents of violence annually from these two drugs alone. As
reported in the featured article:12
“Another study involving more than 9,000 subjects
taking the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) for depression
and other disorders showed that subjects experienced more
than twice as many ‘hostility events’ as subjects taking a
placebo.” ... Healy suspects that the main causal factor
behind suicide and violence toward others is increased
mental and/or physical agitation, which leads about five
percent of subjects taking antidepressants to drop out of
clinical trials, compared to only 0.5 percent of people on
placebos.”
Another two in that top 10 list of violence-promoting drugs
are commonly-prescribed ADHD medications (including Strattera).
When you consider that antidepressants and ADHD drugs are among
the most prescribed types of drugs13
in the US, the fact that so many of them are linked to increased
rates of violence should be cause for pause. Besides an
increased risk of violent episodes,
ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Vyvanse, Strattera, and Adderall
(and their generic equivalents) are also responsible for nearly
23,000 emergency room visits annually, as of 2011 statistics.
Over a mere six-year span, there’s been a 400 percent
increase in ER visits due to side effects of these drugs.
Use Antipsychotic Medications with More Care, Psychiatrists Say
In related news,14
the American Psychiatric Association (APA) recently issued a
statement urging doctors and patients to reconsider the practice
of using anti-psychotic medications as the first line of
treatment for:
Dementia in the elderly
Behavior problems in children, or
Insomnia in adults
The drugs in question include Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel,
and Abilify. APA’s recommendation with regards to anti-psychotic
drug prescriptions is part of a larger campaign called
Choosing Wisely,15
which covers a wide array of common medical practices that
patients and doctors would do well to question, as they may
cause more harm than good. Joel Yager, a psychiatry professor at
the University of Colorado-Boulder, told USA Today:
“Doctors who overprescribe the medications are doing
what they think might help, often without first trying safer
or more effective alternatives.”
Key Factors to Overcoming Depression Without Drugs
It’s important to realize that your diet and general
lifestyle are foundational factors that must be opitimized if
you want to resolve your mental health issues, because your body
and mind are so closely interrelated. Depression is indeed a
very serious condition; however, it is not a “disease.” Rather,
it’s a sign that your body and your life are out of balance.
Mounting and compelling research demonstrates just how
interconnected your
mental health is with your gastrointestinal health, for
example. While many think of their brain as the organ in charge
of their mental health, your gut may actually play a
far more significant role. The drug treatments available today
for depression are no better than they were 50 years ago.
Clearly, we need a new approach, and diet is an obvious place to
start.
Research tells us that the composition of your gut flora not
only affects your physical health, but also has a significant
impact on your brain function and mental state. Previous
research has also shown that certain probiotics can even help
alleviate anxiety16,17.
The place to start is to return balance—to your body
and your life. Fortunately, research confirms that there are
safe and effective ways to address depression that do not
involve unsafe drugs. These include:
Dramatically decrease your consumption of refined sugar
(particularly fructose), grains, and processed foods. (In
addition to being high in sugar and grains, processed foods
also contain a variety of additives that can affect your
brain function and mental state, especially MSG, and
artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.) There's a great
book on this subject,
The Sugar Blues, written by William Dufty more
than 30 years ago, that delves into the topic of sugar and
mental health in great detail.
Increase consumption of probiotic foods, such as
fermented vegetables and kefir, to promote healthy gut
flora. Mounting evidence tells us that having a healthy gut
is profoundly important for both physical and mental health,
and the latter can be severely impacted by an imbalance of
intestinal bacteria.
Get adequate vitamin B12. Vitamin
B12 deficiency can contribute to depression and affects
one in four people.
Optimize your
vitamin D levels, ideally through regular sun exposure.
Vitamin D is very important for your mood. In one study,
people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were found to be
11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had
normal levels.18
The best way to get vitamin D is through exposure to
SUNSHINE, not swallowing a tablet. Remember, SAD (Seasonal
Affective Disorder) is a type of depression that we know is
related to sunshine deficiency, so it would make sense that
the perfect way to optimize your vitamin D is through sun
exposure, or a safe tanning bed if you don't have regular
access to the sun.
Get plenty of animal-based omega-3 fats. Many people
don't realize that their brain is 60 percent fat, but not
just any fat. It is DHA, an animal based omega-3 fat which,
along with EPA, is crucial for good brain function and
mental health.19
Unfortunately, most people don't get enough from diet alone.
Make sure you take a high-quality omega-3 fat, such as
krill oil.
Dr. Stoll, a Harvard psychiatrist, was one of the early
leaders in compiling the evidence supporting the use of
animal based omega-3 fats for the treatment of depression.
He wrote an excellent book that details his experience in
this area called
The Omega-3 Connection.
Evaluate your salt intake.
Sodium deficiency actually creates symptoms that are
very much like those of depression. Make sure you do NOT use
processed salt (regular table salt), however. You'll want to
use an all-natural, unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt,
which contains more than 80 different micronutrients.
Get adequate daily
exercise, which is one of the most effective strategies
for preventing and overcoming depression. Studies on
exercise as a treatment for depression have shown there is a
strong correlation between improved mood and aerobic
capacity. So there’s a growing acceptance that the mind-body
connection is very real, and that maintaining good physical
health can significantly lower your risk of developing
depression in the first place.
Get adequate amounts of sleep. You can have the best
diet and exercise program possible, but if you aren't
sleeping well you can easily become depressed. Sleep and
depression are so intimately linked that a sleep disorder is
actually part of the definition of the symptom complex that
gives the label depression.
What the Future May Hold
A recent article in The Guardian20
suggests psychiatric drugs may soon be rendered obsolete, in
favor of neurotechnology. “No longer focused on developing
pills, a huge research effort is now devoted to altering the
function of specific neural circuits by physical intervention in
the brain,” Vaughan Bell writes, noting that virtually all
pharmaceutical companies have closed down or curtailed their
research and development of new psychiatric drugs.
The latest “craze” in this field has instead been redirected
toward the understanding—and manipulation—of neural networks,
with the aim to modify behavior by stimulating specific brain
circuits deep within your brain. Some of these procedures
include the implanting of electrodes into the brain, for
example. According to the article:
“Big money has already been committed. The Obama
White House has promised $3 billion to develop technology to
help identify brain circuits, while the National Institute
of Mental Health has promised to move its seven-figure
funding away from research into conditions such as
schizophrenia and depression towards a system that looks at
how brain networks contribute to difficulties that are
shared across diagnoses. This project, given the
unspectacular name Research Domain Criteria or the RdoC
Project, is being cited as an eventual replacement for the
diagnostic system used by current-day psychiatrists.”
One of the latest technologies in this area, called
optogenetics, involves “injecting neurons with a benign virus
that contains the genetic information for light-sensitive
proteins.” As a result of this injection, your brain cells
become light-sensitive, allowing them to be remotely controlled
via flashes of light sent through fiber optic cables implanted
into your brain.
“Let's make this clear. The scientific revolution in
identifying and manipulating brain circuits is already under
way,” Vaughan writes. “... Advances in neuroscience
are not just discoveries, they also shape, as they always
have done, how we view ourselves. As the Prozac nation
fades, the empire of the circuit-based human will rise...”
Whether or not this will actually make for happier,
healthier, more balanced people is questionable, if you ask me.
Yet this is what we may have to contend with in the future.
The Benefits of Energy Psychology
The Emotional Freedom
Technique (EFT) is a form of psychological acupressure based
on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to
treat physical and emotional ailments for over 5,000 years, but
without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping
with the fingertips is used to transfer kinetic energy onto
specific meridians on your head and chest while you think about
your specific problem -- whether it is a traumatic event, an
addiction, pain, anxiety, etc. -- and voice positive
affirmations.
This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing
positive affirmation works to clear the "short-circuit"—the
emotional block—from your body's bioenergy system, thus
restoring your mind and body's balance, which is essential for
optimal health and the healing of physical disease.
Some people are initially wary of these principles that EFT
is based on -- the electromagnetic energy that flows through the
body and regulates our health is only recently becoming
recognized in the West. Others are initially taken aback by (and
sometimes amused by) the EFT tapping and affirmation
methodology. But believe me when I say that, more than any
traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT
has the most potential to literally work magic.
Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce
the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger
emotional distress. Once the distress is reduced or removed, the
body can often rebalance itself, and accelerate healing. For
example, one study involving 30 moderately to severely depressed
college students showed significantly less depression than the
control group when evaluated three weeks after receiving a total
of four 90-minute EFT sessions.21
A study of 100 veterans with severe PTSD22
who participated in the Iraq Vets Stress Project showed an
astounding reduction of symptoms after just six one-hour EFT
sessions. After completing six sessions, 90 percent of the
veterans had such a reduction in symptoms that they no longer
met the clinical criteria for PTSD. Sixty percent no longer
met PTSD criteria after only three EFT sessions. At the
three-month follow-up, the gains remained stable, suggesting
lasting and potentially permanent resolution of the problem.
In the following videos, EFT practitioner Julie Schiffman
shows how you can use EFT to relieve your depression, anxiety,
and panic attacks. But remember, most of the time one is placed
on medication, there are serious emotional health challenges
going on. It is imperative to recognize that doing EFT by
yourself will likely not work for this problem. You need to be
seen by an EFT professional who is experienced and can help
guide you through the process Those who suffer from depression
really should see a qualified EFT therapist.23
Important Concluding Thoughts
I know firsthand that depression is devastating. It takes a
toll on the healthiest of families and can destroy lifelong
friendships. Few things are harder in life than watching someone
you love lose their sense of joy, hope, and purpose in life, and
wonder if they will ever find it again. And to not have anything
within your power that can change things for them. You wonder if
you will ever have your loved one "back" again.
It's impossible to impart the will to live to somebody who no
longer possesses it. No amount of logic, reasoning, or reminders
about all they have to live for will put a smile back on the
face of a loved one masked by the black cloud of depression. I
urge everyone to familiarize yourself with the most common
warning signs of
severe depression and suicide risk, and don’t hesitate to
intervene if you recognize them in someone you know, and/or seek
help if you experience them yourself.
There are times when a prescription drug may be helpful. But
it's unclear whether it is the drug providing benefits, or the
unbelievable power of your mind that is convinced it is going to
work. Studies have found that up to 75 percent of the benefits
of
antidepressants can be duplicated by a placebo.
Oftentimes you cannot change your circumstances. You can,
however, change your response to them. I encourage you to be
balanced in your life. Don't ignore your body's warning signs
that something needs to change. Sometimes people are so busy
taking care of everybody else that they lose sight of
themselves. If you have been personally affected by depression,
my heart goes out to you. A broken body can be easier to fix
than a broken mind. Depression is real. It is my hope
that you don't feel judged here, but that you are encouraged and
inspired by those who have been there.