The Secret Influence of Mass Murders
Another mass murder has occurred in the world. This time it took place in Nice, France. While humanity—because of our complete depravity—is capable of committing the most evil crimes without any external influence, there is a sinister correlate that continues to surface with each case of mass murder and subsequent suicide. No, it’s not guns; the weapon of choice in France was a truck. No, it’s not Islam; authorities do not believe that was the primary motive (though Isis claims that they are responsible as they regularly do). Instead, this correlate is proclaimed to help people, yet it consistently destroys individual lives and societies.
Whether it is the Columbine shooting, Sandy Hook massacre, a movie theatre shooting, a nightclub in Orlando, or an out of control driver in France . . . an undeniable correlation exists between psychotropic medications and mass murder/suicide. Take for example the man who this past week drove his truck through and over hundreds of people in France. Lahouaiej Bouhlel was labeled as depressed and prescribed mind-controlling antidepressants:
“The son was prescribed medication for emotional problems, the elder Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel said, adding that his son was ‘always alone, always depressed’ and often silent.”[1]
Controlled studies repeatedly show a correlation between increased suicide rates and psychotropic medications. Psychologist Bart Billings notes this sobering reality from research conducted on the military: “We have never drugged our troops to this extent and the current increase in suicides is not a coincidence.”[2] Harvard University also found that SSRIs (antidepressants) “seem to double the risk of suicidal thinking.”[3]Antidepressants are known to cause suicidal ideation and action, yet these dangerous drugs are regularly prescribed to allegedly treat those who struggle with suicidal ideation (e.g., bipolar and depression). Psychiatrist Peter Breggin comments,
“Since antidepressants are now the drugs most commonly implicated in successful suicides, it would seem far more appropriate to designate them as “suicide drugs” rather than antisuicide drugs. Yet psychiatrists persist in giving them to depressed patients who are suicidal.”[4]
Similarly, clinical researcher Dr. Peter Gøtzsche remarks,
“Leading psychiatrist have claimed that it is “very rare” that patients on antidepressants become bipolar. That’s not true. The number of children with bipolar increased 35-fold in the United States, which is a serious development, as we use antipsychotic drugs for this disorder. Antipsychotic drugs are very dangerous and one of the main reasons why patients with schizophrenia live 20 years shorter than others. I have estimated in my book, ‘Deadly Medicine and Organized Crime’, that just one of the many preparations, Zyprexa (olanzapine), has killed 200,000 patients worldwide.”[5]
Gotszche goes on to comment on how, in large part, these chemicals account for many of the suicides they claim to prevent:
“The companies and the psychiatrists have consistently blamed the disease when patients commit suicide. It is true that depression increases the risk of suicide, but happy pills increase it even more, at least up to about age 40, according to a meta-analysis of 100,000 patients in randomized trials performed by the US Food and Drug Administration.”[6]
Dr. Charles Whitfield likewise remarks,
“Many psychiatric drugs can be associated with or induce extreme violence (suicide or homicide). Since the early 1990s the drug companies have had countless law suits filed against them for this and other toxic effects of their drugs. Unfortunately, most of this information is kept quiet and unpublished. This denial by the drug industry and the FDA has misinformed clinicians and consumers about these potentially dangerous drugs, resulting in otherwise preventable toxic drug effects.”[7]
In addition to suicidal ideology and acts, studies also show a direct correlation between psychotropic medications and mass shootings. Psychiatrist Peter Breggin, who has testified in numerous depositions and trials of mass shooters—such as Eric Harris from the Columbine shootings[8]—explains:
“Some people become so medication spellbound [the medical term is intoxication anosognosia] that they lose control of themselves and perpetrate horrendously destructive actions. My book opens with the story of an otherwise kind and gentle man who became agitated on an antidepressant and drove his car into a policeman to knock him down to get his gun to try to kill himself. In another case, a ten-year-old boy with no history of depression hung himself after taking a prescription stimulant for ADHD. He documented the dreadful unfolding events while speaking in a robotic monotone into his computer.”[9]
Rebecca Terrell also reports,
“In virtually every mass school shooting during the past 15 years, the shooter has been on or in withdrawal from psychiatric drugs,” observed Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute. “Yet, federal and state governments continue to ignore the connection between psychiatric drugs and murderous violence, preferring instead to exploit these tragedies in an oppressive and unconstitutional power grab to snatch guns away from innocent, law-abiding people who are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution the right to own and bear arms to deter government tyranny and to use firearms in self defense against any miscreant who would do them harm.”[10]
Many in society choose to focus on firearms as the most relevant correlate to mass murder, but mind-altering drugs are directly linked to the vast majority of mass shootings and many other acts of extreme violence.[11] As the number of people diagnosed with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia continues to rise, and the dosages of antidepressants and antipsychotics continues to increase, we should expect to see a parallel rise in violent outbursts, suicide, and murder across the globe.[12] While secularists claim that psychotropic medications are helping those who are labeled as mentally ill and the societies in which they live, the empirical evidence does not favor such a conclusion. Humanity must stop trying to depend upon human wisdom to fix problems, and instead we must deal with our common depravity if we are to truly fix what is broken and restore a sound mind to individuals and societies.
For more information on this subject, please see Daniel Berger, Mental Illness: The Reality of the Spiritual Nature (Taylors, SC: Alethia International Publications, 2016),120-25.
Notes and Citations:
[1] Alissa J. Rubin and Aurelien Breeden, “Isis Claims Responsibility for Attack in Nice, France,” New York Times (July 16, 2016). http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/world/europe/isis-nice-france-attack.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0.
[2] “Psychiatric Drugs Cause Suicide,” http://www.cchr.org/documentaries/the-hidden-enemy/psychiatric-drugs-cause-suicide.html.
[3] “What are the Real Risks of Antidepressants?” Harvard Health Publications, May 2005, http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/What_are_the_real_risks_of_antidepressants.htm
[4] Peter R. Breggin, Toxic Psychiatry (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), 158.
[5] Peter Gøtzsche, “Psychiatry Gone Astray,” January, 21, 2014, http://davidhealy.org.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Charles L. Whitfield, The Truth about Mental Illness: Choices for Healing(Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 2004), 351.
[8] Psychiatrist Peter Breggin also recognizes that conditions often worsen when psychotropic medications are introduced. His own conclusions led him to write a book in which he describes fifty case studies of how psychotropic medications negatively impacted his own patients to commit violence, murder, and suicide (Peter Breggin, Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Murder (St. Martin’s Press, 2008), 297).
[9] Peter Breggin, “Medication Madness: How Psychiatric Drugs cause, Violence, Suicide, and Crime,” Huffington Post, November 17, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/medication-madness-how-ps_b_223922.html.
[10] Rebecca Terrell, “Psychiatric Meds: Prescription for Murder?” New American,March 6, 2013, http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/ crime/item/14655-prescription-for-murder.
[11] “In school shootings in the United States and elsewhere a striking number of people have been on antidepressants” (David Healy, “Psychiatry-gone-astray”).
[12] Peter Breggin, Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Murder (St. Martin’s Press, 2008).
