Malik J. Murphy, the 19-year-old charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of his 5-year-old sister and 7-year-old brother and with the attempted murder of his father in their Colorado Springs home on Tuesday, has a history of taking antidepressants.
Murphy was already taking antidepressants in March, when he was arrested in Effingham, Illinois, for setting fire to his parents’ SUV. His parents told police at the time that the teen had been on antidepressants.
The Effingham county state’s attorney involved in that case said an Illinois judge ordered psychiatric treatment and ordered the teen to take all the psychiatric drugs prescribed to him.
Murphy reportedly then had several months of intensive treatment. It is not known what psychiatric drugs he was prescribed during that treatment, but he apparently would have had to take them all under the court order.
More recently, Murphy’s great-aunt indicated he was still on court-ordered drugs.
Antidepressants can cause worsening depression, anxiety, panic attacks, aggression, psychosis, mania, violence, suicidal thoughts and actions, and homicidal thoughts and actions.
Murphy told police he had homicidal thoughts and wanted to kill his family, according to his arrest affidavit in this latest case.
He also had suicidal thoughts, according to a family friend who said he grew up with Murphy.
Long-term antidepressant users say they can no longer feel normal emotions – they are deadened like zombies. Users describe it as a feeling-less state of apathy and disconnection.
Murphy told a KUSA reporter, “It’s like it wasn’t me.”
This tragic incident, if true as alleged, joins a long list of “inexplicable” acts of unspeakable violence committed by adults and children taking antidepressants.
Only by fully investigating mind-altering psychiatric drugs’ known links to violence and homicide can we hope to prevent such tragic bloodshed in the future.
Warning: Anyone wishing to discontinue a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous and even life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.
If you or someone you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs, we want to talk with you. You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225. All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.
