The shooting in San Bernardino, California was the 57th mass shooting in the U.S. this year, if mass shootings are defined as a shooting wherein three or more people are killed. The U.S. has, it seems, an unusually high number of deeply disturbed Americans who are either not getting help or not getting the kind of help that they need.
America’s use of psychiatric medications has been increasing rapidly. At present 1 in 5 Americans are taking psychiatric medications. There is a belief supported by advertising that many people have a “chemical imbalance” and medication is needed to restore the balance. With so many people taking medicine for their mental health, one would think that Americans with access to modern psychiatric healthcare should be the most well-adjusted people on Earth. Unfortunately, this doesn’t bear out. The U.S. has a surprisingly high number of people who were receiving treatment for relatively minor mental problems, like depression, who end up doing horrific things, like shooting up their school or place of work, killing their classmates, coworkers, friends, family, or strangers.
Before the 1950s, Americans had easier access to firearms. Before medications were used to treat mental illness, premeditated acts of extreme violence were nearly unheard of. The rise of mass shootings has risen along with pharmaceutical approaches to treating mental health problems.
What isn’t commonly known by the general public is that psychiatric medications can have horrible side effects. So horrible, that the side effects raise the question of whether these drugs should ever be used.
In May, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkle was withdrawing from Prozac when he killed his father, then his mother. He then wrote a letter describing his mental state.
My head just doesn’t work right. God damn these VOICES inside my head. … I have to kill people. I don’t know why. … I have no other choice.”
Bringing two knives, three guns and over a thousand rounds of ammunition he arrived at his school cafeteria trying to kill everyone he could. He wounded twenty-four students and killed two, before being tackled by an injured student, Jacob Ryker.
On Tuesday, December 26th, 2000, after increasing his medication, Michael McDermott went on a shooting rampage at his workplace at Edgewater Technologies, killing seven co-workers.
In March, 2005, 16-year-old Jeff Weiss shot and killed nine people, five of them students at Red Lake Senior High before turning his weapon on himself. Jeff had been under treatment for depression and had been on Prozac.
On June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five children in her bathtub. She was being treated for post-partum depression with postpartum psychosis. She was taking Effexor and Remeron.
Matty Sorry shot and killed ten fellow college students before shooting and killing himself. The official Finnish government report revealed that he had been taking antidepressants.
On April 10, 2001, 16-year-old Cory Bathsguard took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates and his teacher hostage. He had recently switched to the new antidepressant Effexor. Claiming he had no memory of the event, Cory says he woke up feeling sick and later woke up in custody.
Before the 1960s, these kind of mass shootings didn’t occur. At present, they are occurring with greater frequency, and antidepressants are being prescribed for “chemical imbalances” more frequently. An estimated ten percent of the population is taking antidepressants. Patients are told that they have a chemical imbalance, but that’s never been proven. It is actually a marketing slogan. Brain chemistry is poorly understood, but this hasn’t dissuaded psychiatrists from prescribing drugs to alter brain chemistry for nearly every mental malady. As can be expected, this can have unpredictable consequences. A significant number of people taking psychiatric medications end up living their worst nightmares, doing things they would normally never do.
When most people think of possible side effects to psychiatric medication, they are likely to think of innocuous consequences like a loss of appetite, dry mouth, or nausea. Overwhelming homicidal and suicidal urges are side effects that aren’t commonly known, but are side-effects nevertheless. But did you know that these infamous gunmen were also on psychiatric medication?
When Charles Whitman killed 16 people, and wounded 32 he was on amphetamines and barbiturates.
17-year-old Eric Harris was on Luvox when he and his partner Dylan Clebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School.
When John Hinckley attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan, he was taking Valium.
They [psychiatric drugs] induce violence. They induce self-violence. They induce distortions of reality leading to hallucinations. They induce a whole variety of psychiatric problems, which are then typically treated with more psychiatric drugs.” – Dr. Rima Laibow
Conclusion
For some children, teenagers, and young adults, this medicine may increase mental or emotional problems. This may lead to thoughts of suicide and violence.” – Listed Warning of Side Effects
With side effects like these, the treatment is worse than the disease.
When mass shootings occur, American media is bombarded with political pleas to enact stricter gun control. Although firearms are deadly, there are numerous ways to kill. If guns were to be made illegal, not only would that arm criminals while disarming law-abiding citizens, it would do nothing to address the real problem – murderous intent. With some planning and determination, mass murders can still happen without firearms. They have already happened.
Obviously, not all murders are caused by medications, but it happens regularly, and the crimes are blamed on the perpetrators, not on the pharmaceuticals with known side effects. When homicidal impulses are a possible side effect for legally obtainable medication, it is clear that what is needed isn’t more gun control, but rather prescription pharmaceutical control.
To keep the mind healthy and running well, to prevent brain ailments and diseases from depression to Alzheimers, keep the gut healthy and stay away from drugs! If you are currently taking prescription medication for “chemical imbalances in the brain” get off of all medications if this can be done responsibly and safely and detoxify. The brain and the gut are inexorably linked. For a better understanding, check out The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives and Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium. For a healthy gut, read Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.
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