9 Of Top 10 Drugs Linked to Violence Are Among Psychiatry's Favorites

Will this be the study that wakes us up to the vast amount of harm being done by psychiatric drugs? How much of our society's violence is related to them?

by Heidi Stevenson

11 January 2011

Nearly all school shootings in recent years have been done by kids on modern antidepressants. The link between violence and these drugs has been noted anecdotally, but studies have not looked into it. That has changed, and with dramatic results, by a PLoS (Public Library of Science) investigation. The top ten drugs are 8.3 to 18.0 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs—and most of them are antidepressants.

Of the ten drugs, nine have strong action on the brain and are given for mental and emotional problems. The one exception is mephloquine, an antimalarial. Of the remaining nine, one is the amphetamine group, one is for smoking cessation, one is an ADHD drug, one is a benzodiazepine, and five are SSRI or SNRI antidepressants.

The authors investigated a 69-month period of the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) data and "identified any case report indicating homicide, homicidal ideation, physical assault, physical abuse or violence related symptoms". They found a total of 484 evaluable drugs, meaning that the rate of reported violence associated with them was greater than could be expected. They used mathematical methods to make that determination, and they increased one of the parameters to make it more difficult to meet the standard of inclusion.

Of the 484 evaluable drugs, they found 31 that were clearly disproportionately associated with violence. The full list, with their relative risk for violence, is here.

Here's a list of the top ten drugs with their relative risks for violence:

Generic Name	Brand Name	Proportional Reporting Ratio	Type of Drug
Varenicline	Chantix	18.0	Anti-smoking, affects nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
Fluoxetine	Prozac	10.9	SSRI antidepressant
Paroxetine	Paxil	10.3	SSRI antidepressant, noted for severe withdrawal & birth defects
Amphetamines	--	9.6	Used for ADHD, affects dopamine and noradrenaline
Mephloquine	Lariam	9.5	Treats malaria, noted for causing bizarre behavior
Atomexetine	Strattera	9.0	Used for ADHD, affects noradrenaline
Triazolam	Halcion	8.7	Benzodiazepam, used mainly for insomnia
Fluvoxamine	Luvox	8.4	Antidepressant, affects serotonin
Venlafaxine	Effexor	8.3	Antidepressant, affects serotonin & noradrenaline
Desvenlafaxine	Pristiq	7.9	Antidepressant, affects serotonin & noradrenaline

Some argue that it isn't the drugs that cause the excess violence, that it's the nature of the people who are given them. However, close examination negates that argument—unless one wants to suggest that people who are depressed are inherently more violent than others.

Amphetamines are blamed for a great deal of violence in people taking them as a street drug. Notice, though, that it's just fourth on the list.

It should come as no surprise that this study received no financing from the pharmaceutical industry. The authors are Thomas J. Moore of the Intitute for Safe Medication Practices, Joseph Glenmullen of the Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Curt D. Furberg from the Division of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. All of them have been involved in litigation on the issue of drug-induced violence, either receiving consulting fees or acting as expert witnesses.

Clearly, far more needs to be considered in trials of brain-altering drugs. It's obvious that the dangers inherent in many of them are far more serious than generally recognized. We need to ask how many lives have been destroyed by them. How many children were turned into mass murderers or committed suicide as a result of these drugs? How much of the violence in American society is related to the mass drugging of citizens?

The costs of these drugs are far greater than the price of a pill. The costs must be measured in terms of lives lost, of babies deformed, of debilities endured, and of emotional trauma that's spreading throughout society. Isn't it well past time we stepped back and took a hard and honest look at what's being promulgated by the medical system? Children are routinely labeled and then drugged. Inane pseudo-studies claim that huge percentages of the people are mentally deranged.

We've slipped into a parallel world, one in which normal life passages are redefined as diseased states and then the so-called ill people are drugged. The effects of those drugs, for anyone who wants to look, are proving to be massively disastrous. We're creating a society of people made sick through the medicines that are pushed on them for nonexistent diseases. We're creating a society of people who truly are mentally deranged because of these drugs.

We know that Big Pharma and the vast majority of doctors are not going to wake up because it won't benefit their profits. When are we, as a society, going to wake up and take back control of our health—and minds?

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