Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman’s continuing concern about the overuse of psychiatric drugs in treating combat veterans has resulted in the Government Accountability Office agreeing to investigate the matter.
In a letter sent to the GAO, Coffman and New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster requested a review of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental health standards for treating veterans suffering from combat-related conditions, expressing concern that the VA’s heavy reliance on powerful psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs could be contributing to veteran suicides.
On September 27, the GAO agreed to do so and expects to complete the investigation in six months.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has long advocated a full investigation of the link between veterans’ suicides and psychotropic drugs.
An average of 20 veterans commit suicide every day in the U.S., according to the VA. This follows years of the increasing use of psychiatric drugs as mental health treatment for veterans and members of the military.
In the years 2005-2011, military prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased more than 30 times faster than the civilian rate, despite nearly 50 warnings from international drug-regulatory agencies that psychotropic drugs can cause suicidal thoughts and actions.
In a statement released by his office, Coffman, a Marine Corps combat veteran himself, said: “This decision is a victory for combat veterans everywhere who are suffering from PTSD and who have been prescribed a cocktail of very powerful drugs to mask their symptoms in lieu of other forms of interactive therapy that work to bring down the stress levels of PTSD to a point where they are no longer debilitating.”
Warning: Anyone wanting to discontinue psychiatric drugs is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
If you or a veteran or other member of the military you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs or other mental-health treatment, we want to talk to you. You can contact us privately by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225. All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.
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.
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.
A Colorado Springs teen, Malik Vincent Murphy, arrested yesterday morning for the fatal stabbings of his 5-year-old sister and 7-year-old brother and the nonfatal stabbing of his father reportedly has a history of psychiatric drugs.
Psychiatric drugs have known links to violence. There are 28 warnings from international drug regulatory agencies concerning violence-related side effects of psychiatric drugs.
Psychiatric drugs were found disproportionately linked to acts of violence in a 2010 analysis of prescription drug side-effects data from the Food and Drug Administration’s adverse event reporting system.
Murphy’s history of psychiatric drug treatment dates at least as far back as earlier this year, according to published accounts.
Murphy was arrested for setting his family’s SUV on fire in March. A judge ordered psychiatric treatment and ordered the teen to take all prescribed psychiatric drugs, according to the county state attorney involved in the case.
More recently, Murphy’s great-aunt has said he was on court-ordered drugs.
Murphy told police that he had homicidal thoughts and wanted to kill his family, according to his arrest affidavit. A family friend who said he grew up with Murphy claimed that the young man had suicidal thoughts.
Suicidal and homicidal thoughts are known adverse effects of some psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants.
It is not yet known what psychiatric drugs Murphy was prescribed, or when or how he took them.
However, the incident, if true as alleged, joins a long list of “inexplicable” acts of unspeakable violence committed by adults and children taking psychiatric drugs.
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.
In an attempt to combat the epidemic of suicides by veterans on psychiatric drugs and opioids, U.S. Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO 6th district) has introduced legislation in Congress to review the link between prescription drugs and veterans’ suicides. Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO 2nd district) is a co-sponsor of the bill.
An average of 20 veterans a day committed suicide in 2014, the latest year for which data is available, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Veterans, who made up less than 9 percent of the U.S. adult population (ages 18+) in 2014, accounted for 18 percent of the adult suicides.
The Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017 (H.B. 2652), introduced May 25, calls for a thorough and independent review of all suicides, violent deaths, and accidental deaths during a five-year period among veterans who received treatment at a VA facility during the five years leading up to their deaths. The review would be done by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine under an agreement with the VA.
The bill calls for a review of all drugs identified in the toxicology testing of the decedents, with a separate listing of those drugs that also carried a black-box warning (required by the FDA to emphasize the serious or life-threatening risk of the drug), were prescribed for an off-label use, were psychotropic (mind-altering), and/or carried warnings of the risk of suicidal thoughts.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has long advocated the investigation of the link between veterans’ suicides and psychiatric drugs.
Between 2005-2011, military prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased nearly seven times (682%) – more than 30 times faster than the civilian rate.One in six American service members takes at least one psychiatric drug.
(To view “The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda,” the Citizens Commission on Human Rights documentary detailing how psychiatry uses the military as its testing ground, click here and then click on “Military Documentary.”)
This is despite the nearly 50 international drug-regulatory agency warnings that psychiatric drugs can cause suicidal thoughts and actions.
Dr. Bart Billings, a retired Army psychologist who has treated thousands of veterans suffering from what is commonly called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has said that the surge of prescriptions since 2005 “coincides with the gradual increase, to this day, of suicides in the military. I feel there’s a direct relationship.”
House Bill 2562 is the counterpart to a bill of the same name introduced in the U.S. Senate (S. 992) on May 1 by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and a companion bill to the Veteran Suicide Prevention Act (H.B. 4640) introduced in the House by Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) in 2016.
WARNING: Anyone wanting to discontinue psychiatric drugs is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
If you or a veteran or other member of the military you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs or other mental-health treatment, we want to talk to you. You can contact us privately by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225. All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.
A psychiatrist involved in the legal actions related to the shootings at Columbine High School and the Aurora Century theater has concluded that psychiatric drugs were the main contributing factor in both mass murders.
We previously reported that Aurora theater shooter James Holmes experienced his first episode of mania after taking the antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline) prescribed by his psychiatrist, at which time he wrote in his journal that his hatred was unleashed. Weeks later, Holmes went on the shooting rampage in which he killed 12 moviegoers and injured 70 others in July 2012.
We also previously reported that Eric Harris became obsessed with homicidal and suicidal thoughts within weeks of starting on the antidepressant Zoloft. He was then switched to another violence-linked antidepressant, Luvox, which he was taking at the time he and Dylan Klebold opened fire at Columbine High School, killing 12 students and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in April 1999.
Zoloft and Luvox are in the class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). To date, 26 warnings by international drug regulatory authorities and 34 studies have warned that the adverse effects of SSRIs include mania, aggression, suicide and violence. Both Zoloft and Luvox are on a list of prescription drugs with the most incidents of violence reported to the FDA, according to a 2010 study published by the Public Library of Science ONE (PLoS One).
Without the SSRI antidepressant, Holmes “probably would not have committed mass murder”
In his recent report, Breggin makes this observation about the psychiatric treatment James Holmes received: “Given the [psychiatrist’s] concerns about [James Holmes’] psychotic thinking and his obviously violent tendencies, exposing Holmes to Zoloft was like pouring gasoline on a fire.”
Breggin says Holmes was on Zoloft for about 94 days before abruptly stopping around June 30, just 20 days before his deadly rampage. But it was not the sudden withdrawal that brought on the violence, according to Breggin.
“An abrupt withdrawal might have worsened his condition, but the main contributing factor to the violence was his lengthy exposure to a drug that worsened his condition and drove him into psychosis,” he writes. “He had a manic-like psychosis while taking the Zoloft and this would not have abated for some time after stopping the medication.”
Breggin’s conclusion: “I have no doubt that Zoloft contributed to Holmes’ escalating violence and that without it he probably would not have committed mass murder.”
Lengthy exposure to SSRI antidepressants brought on Eric Harris’ violence
Concerning Eric Harris, Breggin noted in his recent report that the Columbine shooter did not begin planning his violent assault until he had been on antidepressants for months.
Harris was switched to the SSRI antidepressant Luvox in April 1998, a year before the attack on Columbine High School, and the autopsy toxicology report confirmed it was still in his system at the time of the shooting.
Again, it was the lengthy exposure to Luvox that brought on Harris’ violence, according to Breggin, who noted that the writings in Harris’ journal “grew increasingly bizarre and violent over the period in which he continued to take increasing amounts of Luvox.”
Breggin states that psychiatrists not only failed to detect or prevent the violence perpetrated by Holmes and Harris, but “gave drugs that caused violence or amplified any pre-existing violent tendencies.”
Why are these drugs on the market?
Breggin points out that “careful scrutiny of the FDA testing for drug approval shows that antidepressants do not work any better than placebo, but that they do make many people very mentally disturbed and increase the rate of suicide and violence.”
“Why are these drugs on the market?” he asks.
Breggin concludes: “Curtailing or stopping the use of SSRIs and other antidepressants would vastly diminish an infinite number of aggressive and violent acts committed by individuals taking these drugs….”
If you or someone you know has experienced violent outcomes from taking SSRI antidepressants or any other psychiatric drug, please report it to the FDA by clicking here. And we want to talk to you about your experience. You can contact us privately by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225. All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.
