So far this year, 31 people have been killed in school shootings, including 26 students. In comparison, 13 military service members have died in the line of duty in 2018. The fact that our schools are currently more dangerous than combat zones should fill us all with horror. As a mother, that is certainly my reaction.
Each time a new shooting occurs — on average, once every week — the same question arises: What warning signs did we miss?
One recurrent answer cited is the role that mental illness plays in this growing epidemic. In a majority of these violent attacks, the individuals responsible were diagnosed and treated for some type of mental illness. Oliver North, the new head of the NRA, recently made headlines when he cited the use of Ritalin, a drug used to treat ADHD, as a possible factor in the surge of violence. The science supports his assertion, and a recently published study shows that unnecessary and accidental use of these drugs increased over 60 percent during the last decade and a half.
But it is not just ADHD medications. Antidepressants, such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs), are the most common treatment for depressive and anxiety disorders. The dangerous side effects of this type of drug are well documented. In fact, antidepressants carry “black box warnings,” the most stringent precaution a drug label can carry before being removed from the market. Many antidepressants carry a black box warning of an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior. There is also a shocking risk of increased violence to others, which is not highlighted in the black box.
Important research has shown major drugs like Paxil and Prozac are linked with violence at a substantially higher rate than other drugs. Users of Paxil are 10.3 times more likely to exhibit violence toward themselves or others, while users of Prozac are 10.9 times more likely to commit acts of violence. Other evidence shows that people who have exhibited no propensity for violence or aggression can develop violent behavior soon after beginning antidepressants.
This is troubling given the large number of Americans (about 30 million) who take antidepressants. There is also a disturbing correlation between the surge in gun violence and the dramatic increase in the number of individuals taking SSRIs — a rise of 400 percent in recent years.
The epidemic of gun violence in our schools is a complicated topic, and there are no easy answers. Mental illness further complicates the discussion. Those in need of treatment are often given no alternatives to the drug regimen that has become synonymous with this type of condition. This needs to change.
Drugs may mask symptoms of mental illness, but they rarely address root causes. Practitioners fail to connect diseases of the mind with diseases of the body. We are just starting to understand the sophisticated connections between the gut and the brain. Consider that 95 percent of our serotonin, the hormone targeted by SSRIs, is found in the gut. Overuse of antibiotics, pesticides in our food chain and an overly processed diet all contribute to the poor gut health — and by extension, poor mental health — of our citizenry. Yet, discussions of mental health in medical circles fail to address this rather obvious connection.
We owe it to our kids to do more than recite the same clichés every time we are confronted with a new horror. There are clearly deep divisions among people in the U.S. regarding the topic of gun control, but there are other areas in which we can take meaningful steps to address this scourge. We need to take a serious look at mind-altering drugs like SSRIs and assess the impact they are having on the outbursts of violence that are plaguing our nation.
Gretchen DuBeau, Esq.
Maybe, or something a little more ridiculous that were not being told.
it’s not one reason. it’s THE reason.
Dear Miss “dubo”,
I was all set to listen intently to your assertions about the link between big pharma drug use and “gun violence” until at the end of your article, I find an *ESQUIRE* on your name, meaning that you are a “BAR” attorney.
All your credibility went out the window.
Bye now…
DAMN MORANS!!!!!
Go USA!!!!!!
KOYOTE
And. These are not ” outburst of violence”.
They are obviously planned tactical operations….. Bitch……
I think it’s a combination of personality or already has a mental imbalance and these drugs in certain amounts and possibly combined with other addictive use of other drugs or alcohol
Every one of us are built a bit different
Maybe some people run off the rails on this shit
So keep yer head up , because we’re surrounded by them
Assholes that abuse other people and break the sanctity of the bill of Rights make me “run off the rails”.
So, if y’all ever hear that I went ape sh&t now you know why…….
The anti-depressant drug industry is a major cause of violence, but the other big factor is the political left’s used of alphabet companies using false flag violence, real or acted, to remove our 2nd amendment rights. Consider this, the greatest anti-gun advert is that of photo’s of dead bodies, yet, no school shootings are ever photographed and distributed.
Political Left?
DON’T fall for that shit!
THE lEFT and right wing iare On THE SAME DAMN BIRD!!!!
The left and right was created to be able to perform”political slight of hand” on the public… But both sides ultimately push one agenda;slavery.
To prove this. Has anything changed towaRd reinstating the bill of Rights in your lifetime? ARE you still consenting by voter participation?
Thank you Koyote
There are some errors of logic in this essay.
First, there’s the opening paragraph:
*** So far this year, 31 people have been killed in school shootings, including 26 students. In comparison, 13 military service members have died in the line of duty in 2018. The fact that our schools are currently more dangerous than combat zones should fill us all with horror. As a mother, that is certainly my reaction. ***
That comparison seems invalid, since I’m pretty sure that the number of kids in US schools is much greater than the number of troops in combat zones. Besides, current US military activities can only very loosely be described as “combat.”
Then there’s the issue of antidepressants. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, about ONE IN SIX Americans are on those drugs. If common psych drugs made people into killers, there would be FAR more mass murders in this country than we’re seeing.
Look at it this way: what percentage of people on psychiatric drugs NEVER become senselessly violent?
Blaming SSRIs for school shootings is like blaming parachutes for skydiving deaths. “Everyone who died in a skydiving accident was wearing a parachute; therefore, parachutes must be deadly to skydivers.” This is the classic error of confusing correlation with causation.
People who commit mass murder are invariably screwed up in the head, so it’s hardly surprising that most have a history of treatment for mental problems. The point is that the treatment apparently didn’t work well enough.
You have your own errors in logic but I agree with your conclusion, mostly. The use of SSRIs, and especially the self-directed discontinuation of SSRI use by the patient, have been studied by Big Pharma. The mental trauma and erratic behavior caused by such a discontinuation has been studied as well. The public needs to see these studies. #RegulateProsac
“….So far this year, 31 people have been killed in school shootings, including 26 students. In comparison, 13 military service members have died in the line of duty in 2018. The fact that our schools are currently more dangerous than combat zones should fill us all with horror…..”
Here’s a classic example of someone arriving at an erroneous conclusion because they don’t know how to interpret statistics.
How many of our service members were in actual combat, and how many kids are in schools across the country? If you dig up the numbers, and compare the deaths in proportion to them, you’re going to find that your kid is probably more likely to be struck by lightning than shot in school, and that his school certainly is NOT more dangerous than a battlefield.
There are several factors responsible for the school shootings. Anti-depressants is likely to be one of then because it’s a common denominator in ALL of the shootings, and I personally believe that another factor is that kids growing up today are spoiled, sheltered, and deprived of a normal social life.
Does your kid have real friends that he plays with, or does he spend all day staring into a video screen? Kids isolated by their electronic devices miss an important education in dealing with others.
To be honest, I still think the shootings are planned tactical operations using psychology and psychotropic drugs. Old CIA mk ultra mossad crap…………..
& maKING A NEW TINFOIL HAT TH IS
MORNING……
USA!! USA!!!!!!!
I agree 100%…. they’re all planned operations, but that’s not something I can gather hard evidence for, whereas the drug prescriptions leave a paper trail.
That’s also why I like second-shooter witnesses. They’re always present, and they prove it was an orchestrated event.
“Each time a new shooting occurs — on average, once every week — the same question arises: What warning signs did we miss?”
Maybe the fact that our children shouldn’t in those communist indoctrination centers IN THE FIRST PLACE???
Or maybe that they took our gold in 1933?
Or the Federal Reserve in 1913?
Or how about martial law declared in 1863… and never rescinded???
There have been numerous ‘warning signs’.
Man,…… When you spit it out you try to get it all don’t you!!
Hell, that’s a drop in the bucket as far as ALL the damn warning signs we’ve had over the last couple centuries.
Sheeple prefer comfortable lies over hard TRUTH.
These so called school shooting are a set up, a farce, a fraud, so that the people will be subordinate in to doing what ever the government wants them to do like giving up guns rights.. Oh I agree, there’s so much information out there of CIA involvement in everyone of these cases and their usage of anti psychotics, etc.
It’s really amazing how may people who are on anti psychotics, anti depressants.. They will probably make into law anyone on these drugs cannot own a gun. The doctors prescribe these medications like candy. United states are full of pill mills and will prescribe these medication if you have chronic pain, depressed, hormonal changes, don’t have energy, and the list goes on
I have suffered from depression since childhood in the 60’s due to the breakup of my family. A number of my siblings suffered by bipolarism. Back then separation or divorce was taboo. I suffered knowing I was unlike the other kids whose parents would pick up their children from school. The most demoralizing was when the school had parents night. I would not even attend since my mother who I lived with had to work two basically full time jobs to provide for me and my siblings. My father did not want to have anything to do with his children since we chose to leave him to be in the guardianship of our mother. But back then people in the community cared about those that were in positions similar to mine. They took me under there wing and mentored me. While I did not receive a lot of love from my mother and none from my father, our neighbors, teachers, and community would basically substitute the guardianship and care of the absent parents. Given I was not from a large city where you can easily get lost in a crowd, I was also the product of growing up in a generation that sacrificed much. Plus there was no be Pharma pushing drugs on suppressing symptoms. The doctors would diagnose you and as long you exhibits symptoms of serious disease they would likely recommend a natural treatment or even tell you nothing is seriously wrong and you just dealt with it,
Obviously now we live in a much different world here in America. Jobs have been shipped overseas, the middle class is disappearing, the end of inequality among the average American and others is ever expanding and people are becoming more focused on self-preservation. Our government does nothing for the plight of the average American, we are told to pull up ourselves by the boot straps like we are wanting something for nothing while the connected, being corporations or individuals have taken control of our government with no accountability where they control the narrative and those that expose that fact are called Un-American.
What is the average American left with. Unending rising costs of health insurance, college tuition, income taxes and inflation. Were are left with a society that functions totally opposite in the way we were indoctrinated in school and protected from by our parents. Our society stresses values that are totally foreign to our upbringing. The in the real world we are told black is white and white is black. How does a logical person that may not come into the world without a silver spoon in their mouth. You resort to drugs, alcohol, Ritalin, steroids to provide an escape. I am truly surprised that suicides are not higher. If things continue as they are I am sure they will.
So much for American Exceptionlism.