CCHR Urges Officials to Investigate the Link Between Psychiatric Drugs and Violence

The [Citizens Commission on Human Rights] (CCHR), a mental health watchdog dedicated to the protection of children, is warning lawmakers and educators not to adopt [mental health screening] and risk assessments in the false hope that it could prevent acts of violence and suicide since such actions usually result in psychiatric labels and a prescription for dangerous drugs. Citing the fact that antidepressants and antipsychotics have both been linked to violent effects in a percentage of those taking them, CCHR is urging officials to consider that the side effects of the drugs being prescribed to children in crisis may very well be behind the violence they are hoping to prevent. [1]

Admitting that only 1-10 percent of drug side effects are reported to its MedWatch program, the FDAs Adverse Event Reporting System has at least 1,530 cases of homicide/homicidal ideation reported to it as linked to psychiatric drugs. Yet despite these facts, screenings and the usual resultant [psychiatric drug](https://www.cchrflorida.org/mental-health-watchdog-calls-for-investigation-into-the-connection-between-violence-and-psychiatric-drugs/) prescriptions are still being pushed as the solution.

In a comprehensive report released last year, CCHR documented 36 school shootings and school-related acts of violence that date back to 1988 with all of the crimes committed by people either taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. These acts of violence resulted in 172 people wounded and 80 killed.

Harvard Medical school psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen is quoted in the report stating: The irritability and impulsivity from antidepressants, for example, can make people suicidal or homicidal. Also cited is Patrick D. Hahn, an affiliate professor of Biology at Loyola University in Maryland who confirms: The link between antidepressants and violence, including suicide and homicide, is well established. [2][3]

An international expert in psychopharmacology, also quoted in the report, Dr. David Healy, estimates that 90 percent of school shootings, over more than a decade leading up to 2012, were linked to SSRI antidepressants (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, etc.).[2] Dr. Healy warns that: "Violence and other potentially criminal behavior caused by prescription drugs are medicine's best-kept secret."[4]

In the aftermath of recent school shootings, training in Mental Health First Aide and increased mental health screening of students has been a widely promoted response yet these actions simply lead to a significant number of individuals being labeled and drugged with the very same psychotropics linked to violence in the first place.

CCHR warns that the current course of action, increased mental health, will not only escalate state budgets for no equitable or positive return but more importantly, will put more students, teachers and the community at risk of increased violence. Individuals concerned with the link between violence and psychiatric drugs are encouraged to send a copy of the report, Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence & Suicide: Putting the Community at Risk to their legislative representative calling for an investigation.https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf

About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHRs mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the free world tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of mental health, he wrote in March 1969. For more information visit, [www.cchrflorida.org](http://www.cchrflorida.org/)

Sources:

[1] Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Volume 7, No. I, Spring 2005, http://pt.cchr.org/sites/default/files/Anatomy_of_an_Epidemic_Psychiatric_Drugs_Rise_of_Mental_Illness.pdf

[2] FDA Mulls Antidepressant Warnings, Daily Press, 21 Mar. 2004, http://articles.dailypress.com/2004-03-21/news/0403210207_1_dr-joseph-glenmullen-corey-baadsgaard-school-shootings-and-murder-suicides

[3] Patrick D. Hahn, Antidepressants: a deadly treatment? Baltimore Sun, 11 Apr. 2015, http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-antidepressants-violence-20150411-story.html

[4] "Psych meds linked to 90% of school shootings, WND, 18 Dec. 2012,

http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/psych-meds-linked-to-90-of-school-shootings/#i1JviHwg3g2T7KSt.99

John Horgan, "What '60 Minutes' Gets Wrong in Report on Mental Illness and Violence," Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2013, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/what-e2809c60-minutese2809d-gets-wrong-in-report-on-mental-illness-and-violence/

Psychiatric Drugs & ViolenceThe Facts, CCHR International, https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/drug_warnings_on_violence/

Company :-Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida

User :- Diane Stein

Email :-publicaffairs@cchrflorida.org

Phone :-+1--+1--+1-

Mobile:- -

Url :- http://www.cchrflorida.org/