Antidepressants And The Finnish School Shooting
21 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // November 9th, 2007 // 3:22 pm
The pattern is becoming familiar. A school shooting occurs and rumors fly that the perpetrator was taking one or more antidepressants, which are already controversial due to links to suicide and vociferous debates over the extent to which the meds can cause violence. This began with the Columbine shootings and continued earlier this year with the Virginia Tech shooter. Meanwhile, several killings around the country have prompted defense lawyers to blame an antidepressant.
Such speculation surfaced again this week with the school shootings in Finland, where the death total is now up to nine. The link to antidepressants, which hasn’t been proven, was fueled by unconfirmed reports that the gunman, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, may have taken one or more of such pills in the recent past. One report, in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sonamat, essentially repeated the rumors.
Drugmakers deny these sorts of links. Meanwhile, prescriptions in the US may have dipped from a few years ago, but the meds remain popular. As psychiatrists note, depression can lead to suicide, although critics argue the illness may mask the side effects attributed to the pills. Despite FDA black box warnings, many simply feel a potential benefit outweighs a potential risk.
For the moment, the speculation is just that (you can get a taste by perusing the comments on TheLede). However, any indication that the Finnish gunman was, indeed, taking an antidepressant while on his rampage may polarize the debate over these drugs. And drugmakers should be prepared.
Nathan
These debates are much more complex than is covered in the media. I wouldn’t be suprised at all to see a “landmark” study that antidepresents have a significant higher rate of suicides than the general population. Of course antidepresents and suicide are linked — not necessarily because of the drug, but simply because depressed people are more likely to commit suicide. (especially ones depressed enough to be taking medication for help)
The same is probably true with other violent acts, such as school shottings.
Lisa Van S
Hey Ed.
Get Your Facts Straight!!!!Or, Maybe the Media should get up off their “LAZY ASS” and do their “JOB”….
FACT: Virginia Tech’s Masacre’s Toxicology report has never been made Public…WHY?
Virginia Tech’s Massacre’s Psychological records are missing…WHY?….
Vioxx is off the Market..No more patients will “die”. But the Media sits back, as tens of thousands of children are maimed and killed, due to the side effects of Antidepressants,..why?,, Because the Media failed to do their job…
Maybe its time to Blame the MEDIA, “WHY” because you failed to do your job!!…You, the Media are worthless!!!!…
Laurie
If the suicides were only happening amongst those who were being treated for depression, then your argument would hold water. That is not the case. Suicides and suicidal ideation have occurred for those treated with ssri’s for anxiety, , migraines, abdominal pain,smoking cessation, anorexia and warts. And those given an ssri depression who have suicial and homicidal thoughts report that they never had these thoughts prior to taking the drug, and once off the drug and post withdrawal they never have them again.
At some point there has to be recognition that there is a percentage of ssri users who have horrendous reactions to these drugs. Until that happens the public is at risk.
I have lived this nightmare in my family. Believe me, it WAS a reaction to the drug.
I’m sure it’s comforting to be able to blame the depression, but it can happen to anyone, with any diagnosis.
Adriana
This article might have mentioned that, in Finland, SSRIs are officially and strongly discouraged for the treatment of children because of their link to suicide and violence.
One of the problems is that the US press will not report any forthcoming confirmations that Pekka-Eric Auvinen was using SSRIs, as the lion’s share of sources didn’t report the suspected link in the first place. News of the shooting has already disappeared from mainstream online publications, which also happened with the recent Cleveland school shooting at the time it occurred. All these horrendous tragedies appear to warrant these days are one and a half days of coverage. Why is that?
The press here reported that this kid was a communist sympathizer and admired Hitler. Based on what? On the videos that Auvinen posted under the name of Sturmgeist89. But in one of these videos- which was quickly removed from view- Auvinen blamed SSRIs for his illness. The title was “One pill a day makes you happy…or then not”.
Point being, if the press here could post Auvinen’s self-identification as a communist/nazi sympathizer, then they might have reported his self-identification as someone injured by psychiatric medications. Clearly the first self-allegation harms no particular industry and meshes with popular conception of lone nutcases with extremist views. But the second self-allegation harms industry and clashes with a carefully engineered popular conception that these drugs are “safe and effective”, so the second piece of information was handled more, shall we say, carefully. And that, in a nutshell, is censorship.
Laurie
Adriana, I couldn’t agree more. Mainstream media knows the connection, but continues to not report it. It’s very frustrating. Those of us who have been through this with family members can see the event and immediately recognize the pattern of behavior that these drugs can cause. There are classic signs that an ssri was involved.
1. “We never saw this coming. He was fine yesterday, making future plans”
2. “He/she became a person we didn’t recognize”
3. The “act” is especially violent, from a previously unviolent person
4. “They stopped taking/switched their antidepressant”
5. “She/he told me that she/he was feeling shaky”
6. Behavior becomes totally different from pre-drug. ie. promiscuous, alcohol/pot consumption, change in clothing choices, sleep disturbances, “dark” references.
7. lack of recognition of consequences of their actions.
Adriana
Laurie,
We’ve all seen it, unfortunately.
Nathan
Adriana and Laurie,
You both seem very confidant that SSRI’s frequently lead to suicidal and psycopathic behaviour. I’m sure you have a reputable medical reference to support this, or is this just based on personal observation? Genuine science is conducted in the realm of pear-reviewed journals. That’s how scientists are kept honest and results are validated.
Jane
Nathan, I’ll speak from personal experience of suicidal behavior while on ssri’s. I will refer you to http://clinpsyc.blogspot.com/ for information regarding genuine science in the realm of peer-review journals. Peer-review in terms of psychiatry is nothing but a joke today. It is extremely hard to find “reputable” medical references that support psychiatric medications. COI is rampant in psychiatry journal articles. The media needs to start printing the correlations between the suicidal, psycopathic behaviors and the medications.
Laurie
Nathan…there is an FDA black box warning for suicide and there are thousands of ADR filings with the FDA regarding violence and suicide, as you well know. You won’t find it in the clinical trial since is is nicely catagorized as “emotional lability”.
The argument that the only acceptable “science” is in medical journals is a nice try but as evidenced by recent revelations regarding scientific journals, they are hardly unbiased science.
I prefer to put faith in the first hand experiences of those that have had these reactions, than in the reportings of those that make the drug.
Maybe you should read the FDA transcripts of the 2004 hearings on ssri’s and children. These are real people who have lived the horror of an ssri suicide or violent act.
Their experiences are real.
I trust those that have the courage to go public with their stories, regardless of how they are accepted. These victims have nothing to gain by going public. They deal with comments similar to the one you made invalidating what they have been through. But they still speak.
Drug adverse reactions happen everyday. A lack of an article in a medical journal doesn’t mean that they aren’t happening…just no one is writing about it. Todays long term ssri users ARE the clinical trial for long term effects…but no one is collecting the data.
Nathan
Laurie,
You make some good points. I forgot about the black box warning. ADR filings are good ways to follow postmarketing side effects. Drugs definately have serious side effects. The way to assess those side effects is through large, controled clinical trials. People’s stories are real. However, drugs don’t get approved based on people’s stories. They get approved based on cold, hard facts that are identified in clinical trials. By the same token, drugs should get pulled from the market based (again) on cold, hard facts that are identified in well controled clinical (or postmarketing) studies. Drugs can’t and shouldn’t be pulled just based on a few horror stories of bad side effects. By doing so you are ignoring the (presumably) countless untold stories of success: people who are able to go work and live a somewhat normal life instead of living under the constant oppression of depression and anxiety. What about the truely depressed people who chose NOT to kill themselves because these drugs gave them a measure of releif that they hadn’t seen in years? These stories should be listened to as well. The only way to listen to both sides of the story is through large, controled tests which are (usually) published in peer-reviewed journals and accepted by the scientific community. Until then, stories, no matter how true, are just hearsay.
Melody
Nathan, you state:
The only way to listen to both sides of the story is through large, controled tests which are (usually) published in peer-reviewed journals and accepted by the scientific community
These large, controlled tests are more and more frequently DESIGNED by industry-friendly scientists, and skewed to prove a point that the industry wants proved. As long as doctors/scientists continue to shove these “proven” (albeit skewed) facts down their patients throats, and hope that “proven” facts relieve them from liability, they are part of the problem–not part of the solution.
We have seen on other sites just how disingenuous these “prestigious, peer-reviewed” journals have become . . . and you tell us this is the ONLY valid source for information????
karol karolak
—– Original Message —–
From: KAROL KAROLAK
To: Professional Assessment Services
Cc: martin_teicher@hms.harvard.edu ; info@pharmapolitics.com ; david.healy@nww-tr.wales.nhs.uk ; Evelyn Pringle ; CADRMP@hc-sc.gc.ca ;
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: 8 dead in Finnish school shooting
Dear Dr. McKay,
Re: Guns do not kill people, antidepressants (Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft, Prozac) prescribed to Malignant Narcissists induce switching of dominance of brain hemispheres, false feeling of invincibility, and narcissistic rage resulting in murderous sprees ending in suicide of Narcissistic assailants.
===Jokela gunman said he used antidepressants===
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Jokela+gunman+said+he+used+antidepressants/1135231686882
Thank you for your prompt response.
Whole issue of antidepressants causing increased rate of suicides was first raised by Martin H. Teicher in 1990.
http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/SSRIs/Lawsuits%20over%20antidepressants.htm
“In 1990, one of the first public reports of Prozac’s propensity to induce suicide appeared in an American Journal of Psychiatry article by two Harvard psychiatrists and a registered nurse. (Martin H. Teicher et al., Emergence of Intense Suicidal Preoccupation During Fluoxetine Treatment, 147 Am. J. Psychiatry 207 (1990).)”
When Dr. David Healy got on that bandwagon and started to cause a real stink Eli Lilly and Co. decided to buy Dr.Martin H. Teicher.
http://www.narpa.org/prozac.data.suppressed.htm
“Lilly has built its defence of Prozac on a 1991 finding by the federal Food and Drug Administration that there is no credible evidence linking Prozac to suicide. Glenmullen and others have challenged that finding, alleging it was based on flawed clinical testing and marred by alleged conflicts of interest held by several members of the FDA’s panel of outside experts.
Though sales have slipped somewhat in recent years as other antidepressants entered the market, more than 35 million people worldwide have taken Prozac, and Lilly derived more than 25 percent of its $10 billion in revenues last year from the drug.
The lawsuit also focuses attention on the new drug, which Lilly hopes will extend its antidepressant franchise after the last Prozac patents expire in 2004.
The key patent for the new drug was obtained in 1998 by two officials at Sepracor Inc., a Marlborough-based drug company, along with Dr. Martin H. Teicher, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard who works at McLean Hospital in Belmont.
The patent brought Teicher full circle in the Prozac debate: He had ignited the decade-long controversy with a 1990 paper about sudden, self-destructive tendencies among patients who had recently begun taking Prozac.
The patent describes an antidepressant derived from Prozac that, the inventors assert, is formulated in such a way as to decrease the current drug’s adverse effects, ranging from headaches and nervousness to ”intense violent suicidal thoughts and self-mutiliation.” That assertion is based on Teicher’s paper.
Although that patent language directly contradicts Lilly’s longtime position on Prozac, the Indianapolis-based drug company clearly saw great value in the drug described in the patent.
In December 1998, Lilly paid Sepracor $20 million for exclusive rights to the patent, a portion of which went to Teicher and McLean. Lilly also promised the inventors $70 million in milestone payments depending on the new drug’s progress through ongoing clinical trials, and a percentage of sales if the drug is approved and sold.”
After Dr. Teicher was bought by Eli Lilly he continued with his research at McLean and in March 2002 issue of Scientific American he published an article “Scars That Won’t Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse”
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000CF962-DF94-1CF2-93F6809EC5880000
Here is link to full text of that article:
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0im1v/donettesteelepsychology/id14.html
In that article he wrote:
“The left hemisphere is specialized for perceiving and expressing language, whereas the right hemisphere specializes in processing spatial information and in processing and expressing emotions— particularly negative emotions. We had wondered whether mistreated children might store their disturbing memories in the right hemisphere and whether recolÂlecting these memories might preferenÂtially activate the right hemisphere.
To test this hypothesis, Fred Schiffer worked in my laboratory at McLean in 1995 to measure hemispheric activity in adults during recall of a neutral memory and then during recall of an upsetting early memory. Those with a history of abuse appeared to use predominantly their left hemispheres when thinking about neutral memories and their right when recovering an early disturbing memÂory. Subjects in the control group used both hemispheres to a comparable degree for either task, suggesting that their reÂsponses were more integrated between the two hemispheres. Because Schiffer’s research indicated that childhood trauma was associated with diminished right-left hemisphere inÂtegration, we decided to look for some deÂficiency in the primary pathway for inforÂmation exchange between the two hemiÂspheres, the corpus callosum.
In 1997 AnÂdersen and I collaborated with Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health to search for the posited effect. Together we found that in boys who had been abused or neglected, the middle parts of the corpus callosum were significantly smaller than in the control groups. FurÂthermore, in boys, neglect exerted a far greater effect than any other kind of malÂtreatment. In girls, however, sexual abuse was a more powerful factor, associated with a major reduction in size of the midÂdle parts of the corpus callosum. These reÂsults were replicated and extended in 1999 by De Bellis, Likewise, the effects of early experience on the development of the corpus callosum have been confirmed by research in primates by Mara M. Sanchez of Emory.
Subsequently he wrote:
Our latest finding had its roots in the seminal studies of Harry F. Harlow of the University of Wisconsin—Madison. In the 1950s Harlow compared monkeys raised by their mothers with monkeys reared by wire or terrycloth surrogate mothers. Monkeys raised with the surroÂgates became socially deviant and highly aggressive adults, Working with Harlow, W. A. Mason of the Delta Primate CenÂter in Louisiana discovered that these consequences were less severe if the surÂrogate mother was swung from side to side. J. W. Prescott of the National InstiÂtute of Child Health and Human DevelÂopment hypothesized that this movement would be conveyed to the cerebellum, particularly the middle part, called the cerebellar vermis, located at the back of the brain just above the brain stem. Among other functions, the vermis modÂulates the brain-stem nuclei that control the production and release of the neuroÂtransmitters norepinephrine and dopaÂmine. Like the hippocampus, this part of the brain develops gradually and continÂues to create neurons after birth. It has an even higher density of receptors for stress hormones than the hippocampus, so exÂposure to such hormones can strongly afÂfect its development.
Abnormalities in the cerebellar verÂmis have recently been reported to be asÂsociated with various psychiatric disorÂders, including manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These malÂadies emerge from genetic and prenatal factors, not childhood mistreatment, but the fact that vermal anomalies seem to sit at the core of so many psychiatric condiÂtions suggests that this region plays a critÂical role in mental health.
Dysregulation of the vermis-controlled neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine can produce symptoms of deÂpression, psychosis and hyperactivity as well as impair attention. Activation of the dopamine system has been associated with a shift to a more left hemisphere— biased (verbal) attentional state, whereas activation of the norepinephrine system shifts attention to a more right hemiÂsphere—biased (emotional) state. Perhaps most curiously, the vermis also helps to regulate electrical activity in the limbic system, and vermal stimulation can supÂpress seizure activity in the hippocampus and amygdala. R. C. Heath, working at Tulane UniÂversity in the 1950s, found that Harlow’s monkeys had seizure foci in their fastigial nuclei and hippocampus. In later work with humans, he found that electrical stimulation of the vernis reduced the freÂquency of seizures and improved the menÂtal health in a small number of patients with intractable neuropsychiatric disorÂders. This result led my colleagues and me to speculate whether childhood abuse could produce abnormalities in the cereÂbellar vernis that contributed to psychiatric symptoms, limbic irritability and gradual hippocampal degeneration.
To begin to test this hypothesis, Carl M. Anderson recently worked in tandem with me and with Perry Renshaw at the Brain Imaging Center at McLean. AnÂderson used T2-relaxometry methods, a new MRI-based functional imaging techÂnique we developed. For the first time, we can monitor regional cerebral blood flow at rest without the use of radioactive tracÂers or contrast dyes. When the brain is resting, the neuÂronal activity of a region closely matchÂes the amount of blood that area receives to sustain this activity. Anderson found a striking correlation between the activity in the cerebellar vermis and the degree of limbic irritability indicated by my TLEÂ related question checklist in both healthy young adult controls and young adults with a history of repeated sexual abuse. At any level of limbic symptomatolÂogy, however, the amount of blood flow in the vernis was markedly decreased in the individuals with a history of trauma. Low blood flow points to a functional impairment in the activity of the cerebelÂlar vermis. On average, abused patients had higher checklist scores presumably because their vermis could not activate sufficiently to quell higher levels of limÂbic irritability.
Dr. Teicher’s conclusion:
Together these findings suggest an inÂtriguing model that explains one way in which borderline personality disorder can emerge. Reduced integration between the right and left hemispheres and a smaller corpus callosum may predispose these paÂtients to shift abruptly from left- to right-dominated states with very different emoÂtional perceptions and memories.
Such polarized hemispheric dominance could cause a person to see friends, family and co-workers in an overly positive way in one state and in a resoundingly negative way in another—which is the hallmark of this disorder. Moreover, limbic electrical irritability can produce symptoms of agÂgression, exasperation and anxiety. AbÂnormal EEG activity in the temporal lobe is also often seen in people with a greatly increased risk for suicide and self-deÂstructive behavior.
Dr. Teicher offered very elegant explanations for hypothesis:
Adaptive Detriment
OUR TEAM INITIATED this research with the hypothesis that early stress was a toxic agent that interfered with the norÂmal, smoothly orchestrated progression of brain development, leading to endurÂing psychiatric problems. Frank W. PutÂnam of Children’s Hospital Medical CenÂter of Cincinnati and Bruce D. Perry of the Alberta Mental Health Board in Canada have now articulated the same hypotheÂsis. I have come to question and reevaluÂate our starting premise, however. HuÂman brains evolved to be molded by exÂperience, and early difficulties were routine during our ancestral developÂment. Is it plausible that the developing brain never evolved to cope with exposure to maltreatment and so is damaged in a nonadaptive manner? This seems most unÂlikely. The logical alternative is that exÂposure to early stress generates molecular and neurobiological effects that alter neurÂal development in an adaptive way that prepares the adult brain to survive and reÂproduce in a dangerous world.
What traits or capacities might be beneficial for survival in the harsh condiÂtions of earlier times? Some of the more obvious are the potential to mobilize an intense fight-or-flight response, to react aggressively to challenge without undue hesitation, to be at heightened alert for danger and to produce robust stress reÂsponses that facilitate recovery from injury. In this sense, we can reframe the brain changes we observed as adaptations to an adverse environment.
Although this adaptive state helps to take the affected individual safely through the reproductive years (and is even likely to enhance sexual promiscuity), which are critical for evolutionary success, it comes at a high price. McEwen has recently theÂorized that overactivation of stress reÂsponse systems, a reaction that may be necessary for short-term survival, increasÂes the risk for obesity, type II diabetes and hypertension; leads to a host of psychiÂatric problems, including a heightened risk of suicide; and accelerates the aging and degeneration of brain structures, inÂcluding the hippocampus.
We hypothesize that adequate nurturÂing and the absence of intense early stress permits our brains to develop in a manner that is less aggressive and more emotionÂally stable, social, empathic and hemiÂspherically integrated. We believe that this process enhances the ability of social aniÂmals to build more complex interpersonÂal structures and enables humans to better realize their creative potential.
Society reaps what it sows in the way it nurtures its children. Stress sculpts the brain to exhibit various antisocial, though adaptive, behaviors. Whether it comes in the form of physical, emotional or sexuÂal trauma or through exposure to warÂfare, famine or pestilence, stress can set off a ripple of hormonal changes that permanently wire a child’s brain to cope with a malevolent world. Through this chain of events, violence and abuse pass from generation to generation as well as from one society to the next. Our stark conclusion is that we see the need to do much more to ensure that child abuse does not happen in the first place, beÂcause once these key brain alterations ocÂcur, there may be no going back.
Now, the real question; What does Dr. Martin Teicher knows but is not willing to tell us??? Since he started whole debate about connection between antidepressants and suicide that propelled him to fame in psychiatric community it is hard to imagine that he ever dropped that subject. “The lawsuit also focuses attention on the new drug, which Lilly hopes will extend its antidepressant franchise after the last Prozac patents expire in 2004. The key patent for the new drug was obtained in 1998 by two officials at Sepracor Inc., a Marlborough-based drug company, along with Dr. Martin H. Teicher, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard who works at McLean Hospital in Belmont. The patent brought Teicher full circle in the Prozac debate: He had ignited the decade-long controversy with a 1990 paper about sudden, self-destructive tendencies among patients who had recently begun taking Prozac.The patent describes an antidepressant derived from Prozac that, the inventors assert, is formulated in such a way as to decrease the current drug’s adverse effects, ranging from headaches and nervousness to ”intense violent suicidal thoughts and self-mutiliation.” That assertion is based on Teicher’s paper.” .
I do not know what Dr. Martin Teicher must have been smoking in 1998 but his findings presented in “Scars That Won’t Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse” in 2002 article completely contradict his claims made in 1998 regarding “new, improved and safe” antidepressants.
Antidepressants cannot alter brain’s biological and functional anatomy, what they can cause instead is that rapid switching of dominance from left to right brain hemisphere that he observed and described.
Connections between Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder are well established in psychiatric literature. All three disorders share so many common elements that in a way they could be considered same disorder with different degree of severity. BPD being least severe NPD somewhere in the middle and APD most severe. If we apply Dr. Teicher’s bicamerality theory than we can theorise that BPD represents tug of war between left and right brain hemisphere (such assumption explains relative instability of BPD), NPD represents long term domination of left brain hemisphere over right brain hemisphere (such assumption explains relative stability of NPD), and APD represents long term domination of right brain hemisphere over left brain hemisphere.
If we expand Dr. Teicher’s bicamerality theory than we can theorise that BPD sufferers are most prone to sociality and self-harm because they have internalised source and nature of their internal turmoil (tag of war between left and right brain hemisphere). On the other hand NPD sufferers externalise their internal turmoil, where suppressed urges of right hemisphere drive NPD sufferers on his quest for finding and entrapping their victims. NPD sufferer’s mental stability is therefore totally dependant on relation with an external victim. APD sufferers also externalise their internal turmoil, and feed bloodthirsty demon residing in their head by periodically finding torturing and killing their victim.
Of all three types Narcissistic Personality Disorder sufferers are most likely to show extreme reaction to use of antidepressants as in many cases they have managed to conceal monster residing in their heads not only from everybody they interact with but also from themselves. NPD monster residing in their right hemisphere is very often stunned in its development resembling mentality of 6 years old child trying to get his way. Murder/suicide so characteristic of NPD on a rampage is a result of sudden realisation that the monster in their heads did not die with NPD sufferer’s victims.
All of this is well supported in Sigmund Freud’s theories of Ego - SuperEgo conflicts, Dr. Otto Kernberg’s theories regarding Narcissistic Personality Disorder and some of the observations of Dr. Sam Vaknin self described Narcissistic.
For more on the subject please see attached my letter to Corporal Steve Kielt of Major Crime Unit of RCMP
“V†Division H. Q. dated July 1, 2004.
Sincerely,
Karol Karolak P. Eng.
—– Original Message —–
From: Professional Assessment Services
To: ‘KAROL KAROLAK’
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 9:11 AM
Subject: RE: 8 dead in Finnish school shooting
Do we have any information about his “psychiatric treatment?â€
Dr. M. McKay
—–Original Message—–
From: KAROL KAROLAK [mailto:karol_karolak@rogers.com]
Sent: November 7, 2007 9:58 PM
To: Dads_In_Action@yahoogroups.com;
Cc: Professional Assessment Services; david.healy@nww-tr.wales.nhs.uk; david_goldbloom@camh.net; sidney.kennedy@uhn.on.ca; donald.wasylenki@utoronto.ca; Evelyn Pringle; CADRMP@hc-sc.gc.ca
Subject: 8 dead in Finnish school shooting
Guns do not kill people, antidepressants (Paxil, Celexa,Zoloft, Prozac) prescribed to Malignant Narcissists induce switching of dominance of brain hemispheres, false feeling of invincibility, and narcissistic rage resulting in murderous sprees ending in suicide of Narcissistic assailants.
If anybody is looking for villains they should blame in on psychiatric community prostituting themselves to pharmaceutical industry.
8 dead in Finnish school shooting
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071107.wfinland1107/BNStory/International/home
brian
Auvinen known to have used Zoloft and other SSRIs:
Jokela gunman said he used antidepressants
The Jokela gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen is very likely to have used anti-depressant drugs, which have been linked with school massacres in the United States. A message written by “Sturmgeist89″, a pseudonym used by Auvinen, appeared on the Internet a short time ago stating that he took the mood-enhancers, although he hated them.
In a video that he placed on YouTube, Sturmgeist89 displays packages of Cipralex, Zoloft, Luvox, and Prozac pills. The video “SSRI-One Pill A Day Makes You Happy” criticises medicalisation.
The drugs in question are Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado in the USA, had said that they took pills in the same class of drugs.
There is disagreement among experts as to whether or not the drugs can provoke destructive aggression.
In a message he put on an Internet chat room Pekka-Eric Auvinen suggests that he had started using anti-depressants during the past year.
“StormSpirit”, another pseudonym used by Auvinen, wrote on the Peliplaneetta.net website that he had suffered “from some degree of depression for about a year”.
Sturmgeist89 told a Danish former female acquaintance that he felt frustrated and aggressive because of the drugs. On the other hand, in his English-language message he said that he had stopped taking the pills, at least temporarily.
At Thursday’s press conference police said that Auvinen’s autopsy had not been completed, and that it was not yet known if he was under the influence of any medicines.
The police are checking with Auvinen’s parents and health care officials to see if he had been prescribed antidepressants. He also may have acquired them illegally or over the Internet.
The National Agency for Medicines recommends against prescribing SSRIs for people under the age of 18, because of the self-destructive or hostile emotions that they have been known to provoke.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Jokela+gunman+said+he+used+antidepressants/1135231686882
so its no longer just academic. The parallels with Columbine are amazing.
brian
nathan: ‘Genuine science is conducted in the realm of pear-reviewed journals. That’s how scientists are kept honest and results are validated.’
Now if Nathan just thought a little further, he may be awre that a drug like VIOXX had to get peer-reviewed before it could get on the market..and on the martket it got. Yet that didnt prevent it from being withdrawn after the deadly effects began to be noticed in the public.
So what value was the peer reviewing? And what value was an organisation like FDA, which allowed it onto the market?
Peer-reviewing doesnt keep scientists honest, any more than it protects the public.
brian
Another interesting feature of this case, is that already the english langauge media is not reporting on the SSRI links to the case…while the finnish media is…it must be less controlled:
‘Did anti-depressants kill in Finland?
Was this news suppressed?
I am always reluctant to swallow stories of censorship or conspiracy. But there is a freakish reluctance for the media to publish the whole truth of recent mass shootings. The headlines in the Finnish Press about a shooting rampage by an 18-year old High School student, Pekka-Eric Auvinen reported that before killing six students, the head teacher and a nurse, and turning the gun on himself, Auvinen indicated that he “ate SSRI antidepressants” which, he said, made him feel “aggressive.”
No British coverage I read mentioned anti-depressants, yet that have been a factor in 28 school shootings and stand offs including the killing of 10 students in Columbine and 5 in Minnesota . The website http://www.ssristories.com/index.php has published the full lists.
etc
http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/did-anti-depres.html
What does Nathan think of this media silence? jave you heard anything of SSRIs and Auvinen in the TV news?
also from Paul Flynn:
‘In February 2004, I had a parliamentary debate on the dangers of the anti-depressant group name Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). This could be a public health problem of massive proportions. In addition to the 28 school shootings/incidents, there have 46 road rage tragedies, 10 air rage incidents, over 500 murders that have been identified with SSRI use. ‘
(same link)
The pharmaceutical industry must have gotten word out to the press, that this story is not to be connected to SSRIs. This media silence needs to be investigated and if true, exposed…
For like peer-reviewing and the FDA, the media is now a useless watch dog.
brian
For the interested, the following site has thousands of cases of SSRIS linked to murder, suicide, murder-suicide, stange behavior.
http://www.ssristories.com/index.php?sort=date
Also see the following:
http://www.ssri-uksupport.com/homicidesSSRISandADHDmedications.pdf
Note, murder suicide is almost a clear sign of SSRU usage.
To thos who say depressives kill themselves…they dont usually kill other people, let alone in great numbers.
brian
More on scientific misconduct:
Scientific Misconduct Blog Memory Hole: Events of October 30th
8 years ago today: Science versus quackery in SSRI drug trials
On 30 October 1999 an important, worrying and predictive article by Sarah Boseley appeared in the Guardian. This is about open, honest and properly represented science versus quackery. The problems are obvious.
An abbreviated version of the Guardian article is reproduced below:
They said it was safe, The Guardian Oct 30 1999
Since the launch of Prozac there has been a spate of disturbing accounts of violence and suicide committed by people prescribed the drug. Victims and families of killers have sued Eli Lilly but no cases had reached a verdict because Lilly settled out of court.
However in 1999 for the first time, Lilly came up against a family in the US who would not settle. The Forsyths wanted a hearing. Internal documents belonging to Lilly were produced in court, and these “showed that Lilly knew as long as 20 years ago that Prozac can produce in some people a strange, agitated state of mind that can trigger in them an unstoppable urge to commit suicide or murder”.
Lilly’s own internal documents show it was identified as early as 1978. On August 2 of that year, when only three trials were under way, minutes of a meeting of the Fluoxetine (Prozac) Project Team run thus: “There have been a fairly large number of reports of adverse reactions… Another depressed patient developed psychosis… Akathisia and restlessness were reported in some patients.” A similar meeting 10 days earlier had noted that “some patients have converted from severe depression to agitation within a few days; in one case the agitation was marked and the patient had to be taken off [the] drug.”
etc
http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/2007/10/memory-hole-30-october-junk-science.html
SarinasVoice
We must all join together to stop these killer drugs. Sign the petition at this site and tell everyone you know to do the same. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/COPESfoundation/
brian
NEW CASE in Omaha:
Before this side of the story disappears down the memory hole
‘breaking story has a teenage killer killing 8 in Omaha Nebraska. He was on antidepressants…likely SSRIs’
‘Five others were said to be wounded, two critically.
The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified by the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office as Robert Hawkins, of Bellevue, Neb., TV station KETV reported.
Hawkins had been arrested on at least two misdemeanors in November and was due in court this month.
Sarpy deputies said they were getting a warrant to search Hawkins’ home.
Shortly after the shooting, Hawkins’ mother walked into its office with a note that “could be interpreted as suicidal,” the sheriff’s office said.
KETV reported that the note left with the Sarpy sheriff’s office said Hawkins wanted to “go out in style.”
It also reportedly said Hawkins was “going to go out and be famous.”
Yost said Sarpy County is working with Omaha police.
A friend of Hawkins told KETV that Hawkins had been on antidepressants, staying with friends and bouncing from job to job.’
http://www.cbs46.com/news/14783006/detail.html
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