Psychiatric drugs responsible for killings and suicides ?

Eric Harris age 18 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 17 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.

Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.

Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.

Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.

Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.

Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.

A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.

Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..
A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.

Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.

TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.


Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.

James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.

Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania

Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California

Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.

Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.

Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.

Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible
homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.

Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.

Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.

Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.

Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”)

Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002,
(Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.)

Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage.

Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.

Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.

Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.

A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.

Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.”

Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.

Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.

Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.

Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.

Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his
New York high school.

Missing from list… 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds….
What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21…… killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az
What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24….. killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado
What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or
What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct
Roberts is the only one that I haven’t heard about being on drugs of some kind. “

-This is the last post John Noveske made on his Facebook page before he was killed

I think a lot of people forget that these people who are mentally disturbed or depressed enough to kill themselves and/or others are probably already more likely to have sought psychiatric help or therapy, making it more likely that they would have been prescribed and taking drugs while they committed their crime.

There are millions of people taking medication who never harm anyone. Just playing devil's advocate here.

I agree 100%. And Dylan was not on medication, so what's the excuse there? The post talks about how his medical records were sealed, but his autopsy shows he had no drugs in his system. At least not at a level that was able to be detected.

Eric’s records from dr. Albert are also sealed . Neither his parents have permission to see it sounds fishy to me...
Not to forget that Zoloft and Luvox are same just different brand name . Eric was complaining about Zoloft having suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
And somebody said that he was taking on &off he complained he felt too normal (lightheaded)? Wonders me why he decided to take at the time they were planning... yes Luvox was found in his system.
Btw how many hours does it take for psychiatric meds to go completely off the system?

[quote="Rebbie556"]Eric’s records from dr. Albert are also sealed . Neither his parents have permission to see it sounds fishy to me...
quote]

he was 18 right?

-warrior wrote:

he was 18 right?

At the time he was 17.

To the OP I will tell you this: Stephan Paddock was not on any kind of psychiatric medication. Omar Mateen, David Patrick Kelly, and Seung-Hui Cho were the same way. People have been killing other people long before antipsychotics were on the market.

Another good point [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

QuestionMark wrote:

-warrior wrote:

he was 18 right?

At the time he was 17.

To the OP I will tell you this: Stephan Paddock was not on any kind of psychiatric medication. Omar Mateen, David Patrick Kelly, and Seung-Hui Cho were the same way. People have been killing other people long before antipsychotics were on the market.

Adam Lanza was on Celexa (or Lexapro, depending on who you ask) for a maximum of 3 days, six years before his massacre and he's still frequently mentioned on these sorts of lists.

QuestionMark wrote:

To the OP I will tell you this: Stephan Paddock was not on any kind of psychiatric medication.

wasnt he on Valium

Rebbie556 wrote:

Eric’s records from dr. Albert are also sealed . Neither his parents have permission to see it sounds fishy to me...
Not to forget that Zoloft and Luvox are same just different brand name . Eric was complaining about Zoloft having suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
And somebody said that he was taking  on &off  he complained he felt too normal (lightheaded)? Wonders me  why he decided to take at the time they were planning... yes Luvox was found in his system.
Btw how many hours does it take for psychiatric meds  to go completely off the system?

Zoloft and luvox are not the same!!! They are SSRIs, but all SSRIs work differently. They just belong to the same class. Some SSRIs work for certain people but do not work for others. Some react badly to zoloft but luvox actually work for them That's why they prescribe different SSRIs for patients who did not react well with the previous one.
There was 390 ng/ml of luvox in Harris' system
Half life for luvox is 22 hours. So if your bloodsteam has 800 ng/ml of luvox in it, after 22 hours you would have 400, after 22 you would have 200 etc.
Therapeutic levels are 50-900. There are a few scenarios:
1. He took the drug before going to sleep/in the morning. 390 is actually quite a lot, that's could have been his normal levels.
2. He took it 22 hours before the shooting and it got lowered to 390 because his initial level was about 800.
3. If he took it 44 hours ago, initial level would have been around 1600. We don't know exact dose of pills because we only know how much of the drug was in the system - 100 mg might give one 800 ng/ml and it might give 400 ng/ml for others. Still it's unlikely that his levels reached 1600 at some point. I doubt that because there's no need to prescribe such high dose to get to this level.
Max dose of luvox is 300 mg per day but I don't know what plasma level could have been reached on that. None the less, I am pretty sure he was taking the drug before the shooting.
''Why'' is the question I have.
Maybe he knew that the drug fuels his rage. He wrote in his journal ''HATE! I'm full of hate and I Love it. ''
Also some patients become numb after taking these drugs - maybe he wanted to be emotionless during the massacre. ''I have a goal to destroy as much as possible so I must not be sidetracked by my feelings of sympathy, mercy, or any of that, so I will force myself to believe that everyone is just another monster from Doom like FH or FS or demons, so It's either me or them. I have to turn off my feelings'' he also wrote.

SSRI's are very powerful drugs. In some cases, they are very helpful and can turn a depressed or anxious person's life around, in a wonderful way. But on the flip side of that, these powerful drugs could have an adverse effect in some people. From my research, Eric was one of those people who did not have a good reaction. First he took the Zoloft, and reported "racing and negative thoughts." He was then abruptly discontinued from Zoloft, and put on Luvox. His dose was steadily increased throughout the year. It is during this time that the NBK plan escalated. He became more withdrawn and angry. He had theraputic levels in his body which suggests to me that he was taking the drug. Now, I am not a doctor, but my impression from what I have read is that the drug was having a profound effect - a negative one!! It fueled his fage and disordered thinking and blunted his human emotions.

Personal anecdotes: 1. I take paxil for anxiety. It changed my life and set me free from crippling anxiety. If it could have such a positive effect on me, I can't help but wonder what kind of effect it would have someone in a negative way. 2. As much as a I love my freedom from anxiety, my emotions have been blunted. Luckily I feel happiness and love just fine, but sadness... not so much. My family calls me "the robot" because "sad" things don't bother me, and I never, ever cry. Eric could have experienced this too, to the point that all his compassion/pity/human emotions were gone.

mamaStardust wrote:

SSRI's are very powerful drugs. In some cases, they are very helpful and can turn a depressed or anxious person's life around, in a wonderful way. But on the flip side of that, these powerful drugs could have an adverse effect in some people. From my research, Eric was one of those people who did not have a good reaction. First he took the Zoloft, and reported "racing and negative thoughts." He was then abruptly discontinued from Zoloft, and put on Luvox. His dose was steadily increased throughout the year. It is during this time that the NBK plan escalated. He became more withdrawn and angry. He had theraputic levels in his body which suggests to me that he was taking the drug. Now, I am not a doctor, but my impression from what I have read is that the drug was having a profound effect - a negative one!! It fueled his fage and disordered thinking and blunted his human emotions.

I think it's very important to keep in mind that Eric might have been lying to his therapist about the nature of his mental disorder. We don't have the notes in front of us, but depending on what Eric told Dr. Albert, the pills Eric was prescribed could've easily been unhelpful for the simple reason that it was for a disorder that Eric didn't even have.

QuestionMark wrote:

mamaStardust wrote:

SSRI's are very powerful drugs. In some cases, they are very helpful and can turn a depressed or anxious person's life around, in a wonderful way. But on the flip side of that, these powerful drugs could have an adverse effect in some people. From my research, Eric was one of those people who did not have a good reaction. First he took the Zoloft, and reported "racing and negative thoughts." He was then abruptly discontinued from Zoloft, and put on Luvox. His dose was steadily increased throughout the year. It is during this time that the NBK plan escalated. He became more withdrawn and angry. He had theraputic levels in his body which suggests to me that he was taking the drug. Now, I am not a doctor, but my impression from what I have read is that the drug was having a profound effect - a negative one!! It fueled his fage and disordered thinking and blunted his human emotions.

I think it's very important to keep in mind that Eric might have been lying to his therapist about the nature of his mental disorder. We don't have the notes in front of us, but depending on what Eric told Dr. Albert, the pills Eric was prescribed could've easily been unhelpful for the simple reason that it was for a disorder that Eric didn't even have.

But why?
I don't think he knew much about SSRIs and as far as I know, it wasn't his idea to see a doctor. So why lie if you don't even know what could they prescribe you and how does it work? What kind of drug was he expecting to get? People hide something from the doctors in 2 scenarios: they want some kind of drug, they don't want to get in trouble. I've done both of them and it's pretty easy to get things you want if you actually know a few things about meds/mental disorders. I don't think he did, nor he wanted something.
It could have been that he just took whatever was given to him but after that he might have enjoyed that it made him numb/fueled his rage. But if he reported that he has negative thoughts, why did he do that? Why would he want to change a drug which gives him something you enjoy? Just weird in general...
Maybe he didn't think much about that and just took the drug from a habit, not actually reflecting it.
Still, very very weird.
I hope that his parents said something about his mental health/medicine he took and we will get some new info after the release of depositions.

(But I am pretty sure SSRIs don't make you a killer and blaming the pill is probably the worst you can do. SSRIs helped many people, a lot of them became calmer, had less suicidal thoughts, etc, ergo SSRIs might have helped him but only fueled his rage, it seems)