Medication Madness: How Psychiatric Drugs Cause Violence, Suicide, and Crime

Dr. Peter Breggin
Posted: July 1, 2009 11:34 AM

Over the years as a psychiatrist I've evaluated innumerable cases of individuals who have been driven over the edge by psychiatric drugs. Many of these men, women and children were evaluated for legal cases but others were not. When I was e-evaluating about a hundred of these real-life stories for my latest book, /Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime/, I began to see a pattern that I call medication spellbinding. Technically, the new scientific concept is called intoxication anosognosia: not knowing that you are intoxicated.

Medication spellbinding has four basic effects. First, people taking psychiatric drugs rarely realize how much the drugs are impairing them mentally or emotionally. They often do not recognize that they've become irrational, depressed, angry, or even euphoric since beginning the medication.

Second, if they do realize that they are having painful emotional feelings, medication spellbinding causes them to blame their feelings on something other than the drug. They may get angry at their husbands, wives or children, and become abusive. Or they might blame themselves and become suicidal. Often they confuse the harmful drug effect with their emotional problems and attribute their emotional distress to "mental illness."

Third, medication spellbinding makes some people feel that they are doing better than ever when in reality they are doing much worse than ever. In one case, a man who was high on a combination of an antidepressant and a tranquilizer happily went on a daylight robbery spree in his hometown wearing no disguise. Another otherwise ethical citizen happily embezzled money while documenting the details in easily accessible company computer files. Both men thought they were on top of the world.

Fourth, some people become so medication spellbound that they lose control of themselves and perpetrate horrendously destructive actions. My book opens with the story 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.

Particularly striking to me, of those who have survived, none of the people I have evaluated has ever perpetrated again after stopping the offending medication. There has been zero recidivism in the cases I have evaluated and who have stopped taking the medication.

Similar effects can occur from alcohol and street drugs. When a person's drunk, he might think he's the life of the party when he's the death of it. And of course, alcohol and street drug intoxication are associated with a great deal of crime and violence. But there is a difference between the effects of taking alcohol or other drugs on your own and taking drugs prescribed by a physician. Most people believe that their doctor would never give them anything that could make them violent, suicidal, or just plain crazy. Often the doctor reassures the unwitting patient that he needs to take more of the drug that's driving him over the edge.

The law in most states recognizes the difference between taking an intoxicating substance on your own and being prescribed one by a physician. If you do something irresponsible under the influence of alcohol or an illegal drug, the law is likely to hold you responsible. It is called a voluntary intoxication. You should have known better than to get intoxicated and you should have foreseen the consequences. But if you've been prescribed a drug, especially without being given any warnings about the risks, that's called an involuntary intoxication.

You're not aware of the risks and dangers; you're simply following your doctor's prescription by taking something that's supposed to help you. The law looks more sympathetically on involuntary intoxications. Many states allow for a defense of not guilty because of an involuntary intoxication.

It's important to understand that all psychoactive substances impair higher brain function and with that they impair judgment. People who are a little tipsy on alcohol or a little high on marijuana may experience it as enjoyable. Similarly, people who take psychiatric drugs may experience relief from emotional anesthesia or an artificial high on an antidepressant, tranquilizer, or stimulant. Or they may get some relief from the lobotomizing effect of an antipsychotic drug or the blunting impact of a mood stabilizer. In every case, the seeming improvement is a manifestation of brain dysfunction, and judgment is always impaired.

I am not critical of the occasional and responsible use of legal recreational drugs like alcohol. But I do not believe that a drug can help people solve their personal problems. Psychiatric drugs -- like all psychoactive substances -- work by impairing brain function, and when we're under stress and have problems to solve we need a fully functioning brain and mind. We need to be able to take complete responsibility for ourselves and to think through our problems with rational clarity. All psychiatric drugs impair those higher mental functions.

Instead of mind-altering drugs, we need courage, determination, self-discipline, and sound principles to face and overcome our personal problems. Counseling and therapy can help many people, but the contest is not between psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy -- it is between drugs and all of the many ways in which people learn to overcome emotional suffering and to triumph in life, including love, family life, devotion to the community, principled living, and spirituality.

/Peter R. Breggin, MD, is a psychiatrist. His latest book, now in paperback, is /Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime /(St. Martin's Pres, 2008). His website is www.breggin.com <http://www.breggin.com> and his email is psychiatricdrugfact s.com./

Drugging Our Children to Death

By Gwen Olsen
Jun 29, 2009 - 8:01:08 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - In Massachusetts, a four-year-old girl named Rebecca became the center of a murder investigation after being found dead from an overdose of a dangerous combination of drugs. Both her parents and psychiatrist are facing criminal prosecution and will stand trial later this year.

In Florida, a seven-year-old boy named Gabriel made headlines because he hanged himself with a shower hose in his foster home. It was later discovered that the boy was on an unauthorized cocktail of psychiatric drugs while in the state's protective custody. He had been taken from his mother who was herself deemed a danger to the child because of drug addiction.

In Texas, a fourteen-year-old boy named Matthew died suddenly after only 29 days of being on a powerful stimulant for ADHD. His devastated parents are suing the drug manufacturer and were recently interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America".

A major news outlet reported that the results of a controversial long-term trial on the atypical antipsychotic, Seroquel, known as Study 15, had been buried by drug makers. The fact that the average patient taking Seroquel gained eleven pounds in one year was successfully hidden for many years. Details of Study 15 finally emerged as lawsuits began playing out in courtrooms around the country. These suits alleged that Seroquel caused excessive weight gain, hyperglycemia and diabetes in thousands of patients. Many of the 9,200 plus lawsuits filed were on behalf of children.

A national newspaper profiled a prominent Harvard psychiatrist, Joseph Biederman, whose claim to fame was the popularization of bipolar disorder in adolescents and children. Biederman's research contributed to a forty-fold increase in the diagnoses of pediatric bipolar disorder from 1994 to 2003. However, his recent publicity centered on his failure to report nearly $1.6 million in pharmaceutical manufacturers' consulting fees he collected from the years 2000 to 2007. His "oversight" was uncovered by Senator Grassley's investigative committee.

The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration released a study featured in the American Journal of Psychiatry that found children and teens that died suddenly were 7.4 times more likely than not to have been taking stimulant medications.

These are all taken from recent headlines. These are national current events.

The onslaught of direct-to-consumer advertising to parents and educators about the benefits of stimulant drugs designed for focusing attention and curbing misbehavior has resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries to our nation's children. And to what benefit? Even the most recent follow-up results of the prestigious MTA Study concluded that any minor benefits exhibited by stimulant drug use in the initial treatment stages of ADHD symptoms in children were not sustained in the long term.

The black boxed warnings added to stimulant treatments for ADHD, antidepressants, atypical anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers and anti-seizure drugs all indicate a causal link between these drugs and suicide. Some package inserts even contain warnings related to violence and homicide. Most labels warn of the possibility of experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, aggression, loss of appetite, agitation, depression, hallucinations and psychosis.

Nearly all psychiatric drugs have withdrawal and addiction potential, as well as links to other serious illnesses including endocrine issues like excessive weight gain and diabetes. Yet, these drugs are marketed and prescribed nonchalantly to our children ---even our toddlers---to control behavior. Is it because the drugs' benefits truly exceed their risks what is known as the risk-to-benefit ratio evaluation of treatment? Or, is it really because our children have been identified as the most lucrative expansion market available to the pharmaceutical industry?

Children are known to be compliant patients and that makes them a highly desirable market for drugs, especially when it pertains to large-profit-margin psychiatric drugs, which can be wrought with issues of non-compliance because of their horrendous side effect profiles, but require no medical tests to diagnose the disorders for which these drugs are prescribed.

Children are forced by school personnel to take their drugs, they are forced by their parents to take their drugs, and they are forced by their doctors to take their drugs. So, children are the ideal patient-type because they represent refilled prescription compliance and "longevity." In other words, they will be lifelong patients and repeat customers for Pharma!

Branded drugs representing $17 billion in sales lost their exclusivity in 2007. Even though sales grew 3.8% and totaled $286.5 billion, "the U.S. pharmaceutical market experienced its lowest growth rate since 1961," said IMS's Murray Aitken, Sr. Vice President of Healthcare Insight. Manufacturers are scrambling to make up these lost revenues just as the average American further tightens his belt in anticipation of a downward spiraling economy.

As insured patient populations capable of paying for exorbitantly priced pharmaceuticals diminish, the importance of government mandated vaccinations, government funded health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and mandatory mental health screenings that result in prescription psychotropic drug sales, will all increase in value to Pharma. Sales managers must search for ways to expand market share. As a consequence, Pharma's lobbyists will intensify their efforts in Capitols across America to promote government endorsed programs funded by tax payers that have a guaranteed reimbursement plan¬¬--No matter what price the manufacturers choose to charge!

According to a study published in the May/June 2009 edition of the Journal of Health Affairs, from 1996 to 2006, prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased by 73 percent among adults and 50 percent among children in the United States. In fact, more money was spent on the treatment of mental disorders for children aged 0 to 17 than was spent on any other medical condition in 2006. That year, as reported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on April 22, 2009, total expenses for mental health treatment totaled $8.9 billion.

Additional campaigns to screen our children for mental illness, newborns included, are being launched and in various legislative stages. In the April issue of Pediatrics, the government's U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged physicians to routinely screen all American teens for depression using unscientific questionnaires that produce a high rate of false mental illness diagnoses. Diagnosis equals treatment recommendation. Treatment equals drugs and exposes our children to the dangers of mind-altering chemicals that have been proven to have only nominal efficacy.

The initiative to drug our children for profit has exceeded all common sense boundaries and is threatening the welfare of every American child. It is up to each and every one of us to stop this madness! We have allowed ourselves to be "sold down the river" by savvy marketing executives who care more about their corporate bottom line than they do about our children or our families. The scope of the collective greed
and malice has now reached epidemic proportions and, sadly enough, can be measured in body countsmany of them being our children's.

The numbers don't lie. The verdict is in. We are drugging our children to DEATH!

Gwen Olsen spent more than a decade as a sales rep in the pharmaceutical industry, working for health care giants such as Johnson Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott Laboratories. A well-known media resource, she has been in numerous print, radio, and television media reports, and testified before Congress and the FDA. A 2007 Human Rights Award winner, she currently devotes her time to writing, national speaking engagements, and mental health activism and is the author of the new book, Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher.

Website: www.GwenOlsen.com

Creekside Convalescent & Mental Health Rehab Center

A Mother's Horrifying Visit to Her Daughter

A mother was visiting her daughter at the Creekside Convalescent & Mental Health Rehab Center in Santa Rosa and was shocked at the conditions and treatment of patients. She started taking notes of what she was observing and herein are just some of her observations over a several week period. Names of patients have been changed in respect to privacy.

- "Melissa is having a hard time agreeing to take so many hard meds. Every time she gains over a hundred pounds She hates the side effects."

- "Melissa told me that a cleaning lady runs a vacuum under her feet to trip her and chases her with it. The cleaning lady goes into Melissa's room. I ask Melissa if they are cleaning and she said, no, but we have to leave immediately if they come in. A lot of stealing is going on."

- "I found out Melissa was telling the truth about being chased with a vacuum as they ran one over my feet too! It was not plugged in and there are no rugs... the lady laughed with a friend like they all know what's going on."

- "Melissa's friend, Bill, is so drugged he can hardly stand. When I asked if Melissa can come to church on Mother's Day, they said they won't let her. I would like to know why but was never told."

- "Melissa seems so mixed up and confused. It's always a constant battle to protect her belongings. Still they steal them."

- "She told me that she's afraid to sleep at night. She pulled up her blouse and showed me a large bruise on her stomach. It was protruding. I felt it and it felt lumpy. She said it wasn't there when she went to sleep. She told me she had woken up feeling violated and felt and saw the bruising."

- "She told me that when she'd go to the desk for something important they would scare her off. The big guy would look mean and say things for her not to want to bother them."

- "Melissa was very nervous. They took her vitals and her blood pressure was very high. She told several staff members that she feels light headed like she could fall. Her complaint was ignored. She has psoriasis all over the back of her head from bad nerves. I reported it and they were irritated. I've been bringing money off and on but she says doesn't get it all. They don't give receipts for her spending money."

- "Maria says she is still afraid to go to sleep at night. She says they made fun of me in front of her. She told me two people got buried under a pile of folding tables and chairs."

- "It seems every time she tells me something, bad things happen to her, more than usual. She told me after I visited her last night the staff would walk past her and make ugly faces at her. When I first started visiting her, I asked if they get vitamins and was told that's not going to happen. The staff were snickering at inappropriate tings, entertaining themselves and keeping the patients at bay, being unapproachable."

- "I havent seen Bill lately, the unconcious man, but a friend of mine told me that there is a man dying in there."

- "I'm just ill inside myself from realizing the horrors going on in this place. I'm sick in bed today. God please watch over her. I feel they'll retaliate."

- "Melissa isn't doing very well at all. She could hardly talk with me and the whole time her leg was jumping up and down off the floor."

- "I saw the cleaning lady again. She bumped into me on purpose. I witnessed her going in and out rooms alone. It's pretty strange, missing things can't be found on the grounds there. It is very suspicious."

- "Melissa told me that she and others would fall over for no reason. She does think it is the medication."

- "She told me she is still afraid to sleep at night and feels ill inside. She thinks someone violated her after she went to bed. She's mentioned this before. She also showed me a large bruise with lumps on it. She said it was not there or sore when she went to bed."

- "Melissa told me or more abuse while sleeping, showing me some funny looking marks on her stomach. She also has severe sinus congestion in her head and nose. Her eyes look horrible, yellow and dry."

And it goes on and on and on.

Note that during this time period, Creekside was inspected by the Dept of Health Services which resulted in fines totalling $19,000 for violations found. It doesn't appear that the violations were directly connected to Melissa but other patients. One employee was terminated.

I have no good reason to think that Creekside has sincerely cleaned up its act but continue to use dangerous psychotropic drugs and violate human rights on a daily basis with degrading treatment. As a matter of act, this year alone there have 10 reports of abuse with 9 of them substantiated with one fine levied of $16,000. Here's the link: http://hfcis.cdph.ca.gov/LongTermCare/Facility.aspx?fac=010000003

In addition to that, after all, it IS a FOR PROFIT organization primarily concerned with making money. It's owner is Nadhan, Inc. and the President (50% owner) is Antony P. Thekkek.

Alleged Child Molester, Psychiatrist William Ayres Trial

Child Psychiatrist, William Ayres' trial recently begun and this is being thoroughly documented by another so I won't steal his material but simply provide you with the link to that site: http://williamayreswatch.blogspot.com/

But, I forewarn you, if you read all about this guy, Ayres, you'll want to take a really hot shower and scrub down with industrial strength soap. Talk about heeby-jeebies.

Ayres has been accused of molesting young boys dating back several decades. Due to the dedicated work of a Victims Advocate, Victoria Balfour, who persisted until law enforcement finally looked into the accusations, Ayres is being brought to Justice.

Interestingly enough, but also at the same time extremely creepy, Ayres has an ardent supporter who several years ago wrote a letter to the editor in support of Ayres. And who is that? She is, of course, another Child Psychiatrist, Etta C. Bryant, who 'practices' in San Mateo. Well Etta, from reading your letter it seems like you are saying that it is standard practice for psychiatrists to molest their young patients, so why is anyone complaining? Anyway, I'm not making it up, here is a link to the letter she wrote: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060503/ai_n16345579/

Victims Advocate, Victoria Balfour and the author of the William Ayres Watch blog are to be commended for their work!

Antidepressants & REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

This is a letter to the Editor from Ann Blake-Tracy regarding the supposed suicide of Patrick Rocca in Ireland.

"Patrick Rocca DID NOT Commit Suicide

"Patrick Rocca did not get a chance to become the first to fall victim to the recent financial turmoil because an antidepressant ended his life before the financial turmoil could.

"After specializing in antidepressant adverse reactions for two decades I respectfully challenge the verdict of the Dublin County Coroner in the death of Mr. Rocca. As an expert witness to antidepressant adverse reactions I would have ruled that Mr. Rocca died as a result of an antidepressant-induced REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) in which 80% of the patients hurt themselves or someone else.

"The involvement of an antidepressant in these disorders is extremely high - of those being diagnosed with RBD in the US 86% are taking an antidepressant. This is the same adverse reaction comedian Phil Hartman's wife suffered which cost both her life and his a decade ago. You are not conscious in RBD and therefore, do not have sufficient conscious thought to make the decision to take your life.

"Instead, what the patient does is act out in a sleepwalk state the nightmare they are having. Another example of this would be found in the first story related in the movie "The Drugging of Our Children" (www.drugawareness.org) where a young man in in the US in the state of Washington took a gun to school, held his classmates at gunpoint for 45 minutes, and to this day six years later can recall none of it. The last he recalls is going to back to bed that morning because he did not feel well.

"Had Patrick Rocca somehow survived his wounds I believe he would relate the same. He may have taken his life, but I do not believe he was aware of what he was doing at that time. It is not right that his family be left with the stigma of suicide when it is not real. Since antidepressant manufacturers have never warned of this adverse reaction 'negligent homicide' on their part would be a more accurate conclusion in this case."

Ann Blake-Tracy, PhD, Executive Director, International Coalition for Drug Awareness www.drugawareness.org & www.ssristories.com

San Rafael Psych on Probation for Kleptomania

The Medical Board of California placed Psychiatrist, Steven L. Balt, of San Rafael on probation.

In late, 2004, Balt was arrested for DUI where he pled guilty to a misdemeanor, fined $1500, sentenced to a work program and placed on 3-years court probation. In early 2005, Balt was arrested for petty theft which he pled guilty to, was fined and placed on a one year court probation. This didn't stop his proclivity for his thieving ways as later that year he was busted again for stealing $12.00 worth of sandwiches and sodas. That cost him a $1000 fine, however that case was dismissed as a civil compromise.

Balt then enrolled in a couple of programs and other treatments to address his boozing and thieving ways.

But wouldn't you know it, while supposedly participating in these programs, in late 2006 he was busted for Grand Theft for stealing four books from the Stanford bookstore, worth more than $400.00.

Throughout this period he had started a psychiatric residency training at Stanford University Hospital but for some reason resigned from the residency training program in November 2006, wherein he soon entered another treatment facility.

Well, he pled "no contest" to the shoplifting and sentenced to a residential treatment program, 75 hours community service and a 3-year probation.

Another Psychiatrist diagnosed him with Bulimia Nervosa (binge eating and self-induced vomiting is the usual), Kleptomania, and Alcohol Dependence and that his conditions will most likely continue but diminish over time if he stays on his treatment program (i.e., mind-altering drugs no doubt)

As of June 2008, Balt was no longer being monitored by the Medical Board.

What is Balt up to these days?

According to one website, he is working at the Schuman-Liles Clinic in Oakland. Schuman-Liles is a psych facility that deals with mental illnesses, most likely eating disorders, alcoholism and kleptomania, is my guess.

Balt also works at the Mayflower Center in San Rafael, a drug rehab facility.

As Balt lists how he worked at Stanford in his "Job Experiences", I guess it only fair that his other experiences are made known as well.

Schuman-Liles Clinic, Mayflower Center and patients: Watch your lunch bags, sodas and books! And make sure he is isn't drinking and driving.

The United Nations & Senator Barbara Boxer Want To Raise Your Children

About 20 years ago, the Clinton Administration attempted to ratify the UN Treaty on Children's Rights. This met with sufficient opposition that Clinton submitted it to Congress to get it ratified or not.

This Treaty is now coming back to the table.

Reading the treaty sounds all good yet in practice, this Treaty would become international law and usurp the powers of the Constitution and of course any parental rights.The Treaty is all based on the premise that governments are to operate for the “best interests of the child”.

So what’s wrong with that?

Well, as an example, all it would take is a Social Worker, Law Enforcement Officer or Judicial Officer to deem that raising your child in the religion of your choice, etc, etc.) is not in the best interest of the child. Don’t think I am being silly, either!

Whereas parents have always had the determination of the best interests of the child, this would be taken over by the United Nations as international law.

Currently, the United Nations has an 18-member expert panel called the Committee on the Rights of the Child. These “experts” are to establish policies, rules and other arbitrary decisions on how children should be raised, educated and disciplined. These people are reported to be “persons of high moral character”.

Oh yeah?

So, googling away, I found that aside from assorted Lawyers, Sociologists, and Teachers, it includes a Researcher for Germany’s Max Planck Institute on Human Development and Education, a Child Psychologist and a Child Psychiatrist. There goes “expert” and “high moral character”.

Per recent news accounts, Senator Barbara Boxer ( D- Calif.) is urging the US to ratify the Treaty. Already 193 countries have ratified it with the USA and Somalia the only two holdouts. (Apparently Somalia doesn’t have a government right now.)

One report indicates that President Obama would be reviewing the Treaty yet another reports that Obama is not likely to approve such a Treaty if it gets to him. But that’s just conjecture.

To combat this, as of May 19^th there are currently 92 members of the House of Representatives supporting a Parental Rights Amendment to our Constitution which would provide shelter to the parent–child relationship and ensure the parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.

The Parental Rights Amendment is as follows:

SECTION 1
The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

SECTION 2
Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

SECTION 3
No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.