The rise in gratuitous and senseless violence is a disturbing recent
addition to the community landscape. Psychiatrists have tried to sell us
on all the wrong reasons for this -- everything from a person's mental
illness, poverty and broken families to genetic makeup; however, the
fact missed by most is that psychiatric drugs, on an ever increasing
rise in society and amongst school children, are actually creating acts
of violence. The rise in senseless violence in America is date
coincident with the increased use of mind-altering drugs.
How many times must history repeat itself before we start looking for
the common factors present in case after case of brutal and violent
acts? In the recent cases where children have become murderous, one must
ask the question, even if children have access to guns or the means to
make bombs, what is it that is making them pull the trigger? What twists
a child so that he would kill his classmates, friends or even people
that he loves? What could possibly push children over the edge to a
point where their acts are unrecognizable even by those who know them?
Consider the following:
In the U.S. alone, approximately 4 million children are currently on
the psychiatric drug Ritalin, a drug which the Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) places in the same category (a schedule ll drug) as opium,
morphine and cocaine.
Psychotic episodes and violent behavior are associated with chronic
Ritalin abuse. Ritalin is the amphetamine-like drug widely prescribed to
children for the contrived mental disease, "Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD). Even Ritalin's manufacturer warns that
"frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abusive use. And even the
American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders lists the major complication of Ritalin withdrawal is
suicide.
In the U.S. today, over 909,000 children and adolescents between the
ages six and eighteen are on psychiatric antidepressant drugs.
Between 1988 and 1992, in just four years, there were reports of over
90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent
self-destructive behavior while on the newer antidepressant, Prozac, an
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.) The Food and Drug
Administration's own Adverse Drug Reaction reports reveal that a
12-year-old suffered hostility, confusion, was violent and became
"glassy-eyed" on the drug; an 18-year-old was hospitalized after being
on the drug for 270 days and had reportedly sexually assaulted and
stabbed a store clerk; one 16-year-old who had been on Prozac for 50
days, reported hostility, psychotic depression and hallucinations when
there had been no prior psychiatric history.
Since the 1960s, the use of these drugs has been on a massive
increase, especially since the introduction of Community Mental Health
Centers (CMHCs). The following are just a small sample of studies
showing the violence-inducing nature of these powerful mind-altering
drugs:
PSYCHIATRIC DRUG STUDIES
The New York Post reported on January 31, 1999, that they had
obtained documents (through Freedom of Information Law) that the New
York Psychiatric Institute was testing Prozac on 6-year-olds. The
documents obtained by the Post showed that under these drug
trials the psychiatric researchers own documents noted that "Some
patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts
and/or violent behavior." Another side effect -- wild manic episodes --
was also acknowledged in the researchers' records.
A 1995 Nordic conference reported that the new antidepressant drugs,
in particular, have a stimulating amphetamine-like effect and consumers
of these drugs can become "aggressive" or "suffer hallucinations and/or
suicidal thoughts."
1998 British report said that at least five percent of patients
taking SSRI's (an antidepressant) suffered "commonly recognized" side
effects which includes agitation, anxiety and nervousness. Other
regularly reported effects include confusion, abnormal dreaming and
nightmares. Around five percent of the reports also indicate aggression,
hallucinations, malaise and depersonalization. SSRIs "can cause a broad
spectrum of psychiatric and neurological side-effects, resulting in
over-stimulation in some cases and sedation in others," the report
stated.
In 1995, nine Australian psychiatrists urged SSRIs be sold with a
warning after patients had slashed themselves or became preoccupied with
violence when taking them. "I didn't want to die, I just felt like
tearing my flesh to pieces," one patient told them. Another said, "I got
my cane cutters' knife in my right hand and wanted to cut my left hand
off at the wrist." The self destructive harm started after the treatment
began or doses increased and eased, or ceased when the drugs were
stopped.
One Canadian research team which studied the effects of psychiatric
drugs on prisoners found that "violent, aggressive incidents occurred
significantly more frequently in inmates who were on psychotropic
(psychiatric or mind altering) medication than when these inmates were
not on psychotropic drugs." Inmates on major tranquilizers were shown to
be more than twice as violent as they were when not taking psychiatric
drugs. (emphasis added).
A paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry in 1964 found
that major tranquilizers (Thorazine, Haldol, Mellaril etc.) can "produce
an acute psychotic reaction in an individual not previously psychotic
(emphasis added).
In 1970 a textbook on the side effects of psychiatric drugs pointed
out the potential for violence from these drugs stating, "Indeed, even
acts of violence such as murder and suicide have been attributed to the
rage reactions induced by chlordiazepoxide (Librium) and diazepam
(Valium)."
Valium was later replaced by Xanax as the most widely prescribed
minor tranquilizer. But the leopard did not change its spots. According
to a 1984 study of Xanax, "Extreme anger and hostile behavior emerged
from eight of the first 80 patients we treated with alprazolam (Xanax).
And a 1985 investigation into Xanax, reported in the American Journal
of Psychiatry, claimed that more than half (58 percent) of the treated
patients experienced serious "dyscontrol", i.e. violence and loss of
control compared with only eight percent who were given a placebo.
A 1975 paper described a negative effect from the major tranquilizers
called "akathisia" (from the Greek a - meaning "without" or "not" and
akathisia meaning "sitting".) Akathisia is a drug-induced insanity which
was first recognized as an inability of people taking the drugs to sit
still comfortably.
In his paper, "The Many Faces of Akathisia," researcher Theodore Van
Putten reported nearly half of the 110 persons in the study had
experienced akathisia. He described what happened to these people after
taking the drugs. One woman started to bang her head against the wall
three days after an injection of a major tranquilizer.
Another, who had been given these drugs for five days experienced "an
upsurge in hallucinations, screaming, even more bizarre thinking,
aggressive and also self- destructive outbursts, and agitated pacing or
dancing." While still another stated that while on the drug she felt
hostile and hated everybody and heard voices taunting her.
In 1986, a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry
found that patients taking the drug Elavil, an antidepressant, "...
appeared progressively more hostile, irritable, and behaviorally
impulsive.... The increase in demanding behavior and assaultive acts was
statistically significant."
A study of children taking Elavil published in Psychosomatics in 1980
found that some grew hysterical or hostile. One of the kids began
"exhibiting excessive irritability and anger, pacing excessively and
declaring that he was not afraid anymore, that he was 'not chicken
anymore.' "
A 1988 study documented the tendency of the major tranquilizer Haldol
to increase hostile and violent behavior. According to the study, many
persons who had no history of violence prior to being placed on the drug
"were significantly more violent on haloperidol (Haldol)". In this
study, the researchers attributed the marked increase in violence to
akathisia.
A report published in The Journal of the American Medical Association
exemplified the agitation which can accompany akathisia. Describing a
man who had started taking Haldol four days previously, the researcher
noted that the man "...became uncontrollably agitated, could not sit
still, and paced for several hours." After complaining of violent urges
to assault anyone near him, the man assaulted and tried to kill his dog.
Another article published in the American Journal of Forensic
Psychiatry in 1985 described five cases of "extreme acts of physical
violence" due to akathisia caused by Haldol. These cases included acts
of extreme, senseless, bizarre and brutal violence.
In more than 400 cases of violent crime reviewed by CCHR, it was
found that most mass murderers had been under psychiatric care before
the crime was committed. Many of the mass killers were found to have no
previous pattern of violent behavior prior to being treated --
especially with drugs -- by psychiatrists.
But even more startling, is that normal children are becoming
murderers, with the aide of psychiatric drugs, treatments and
programs.
THE FOLLOWING ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES:
On May 20, 1988, Laurie Dann walked into a Winnetka, Illinois second
grade classroom carrying three pistols and began shooting innocent
little children, killing one and wounding five others before killing
herself. Subsequent blood tests revealed that at the time of the
killings, Dann was on a psychiatric drug of a class clearly shown to
cause unexplained hostile and violent behavior.
On September 26, 1988, 19-year-old James Wilson took a .22 caliber
revolver into an elementary school in Greenwood, South Carolina and
started shooting schoolchildren, killing two 8-year-old girls and
wounding seven other children and two teachers. Wilson had been in and
out of the hands of psychiatrists for years and within 8 months of the
killings he had been on several psychiatric drugs which can generate
violent behavior. Since the age of 14, he had been given psychiatric
drugs, including Xanax, Valium, Thorazine and Haldol.
On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy opened fire on a school yard full
of young children in Stockton, California. During his vicious and
unprovoked assault, Purdy killed five school children and wounded 30
others. Purdy then killed himself. During the two years prior to the
murders of the Stockton children, Purdy had been on two strong
psychiatric drugs of categories known to cause violence.
On May 21, 1998 14-year-old Kip Kinkel shot and killed his parents
and then went a wild shooting spree at his Springfield, Oregon high
school that left two dead and 22 injured. He was reportedly taking
Prozac and Ritalin and had been attending "anger management" classes.
On November 20, 1986: 14-year-old Rod Mathews beat a classmate to
death with a bat in the woods near his home in Canton, Mass. He had been
prescribed Ritalin since the third grade.
16-year-old Brian Pruitt, who fatally stabbed his grandparents in
1995, had a history of psychiatric treatment and had been prescribed
psychiatric drugs.
And in 1997 16-year old Sam Manzie raped and strangled another boy to
death. He was under psychiatric "care" and was being "medicated".
Psychiatric drugs can cause violence; they can kill. These are facts
that psychiatrists and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
are not comfortable with. Psychiatrists for obvious reasons -- they
could and should be held liable for a crime committed by their drugged
out patients -- and NAMI because it "is awash in money from drug
companies"_$3.2 million per year from nine such companies -- that
manufacturer these often crippling drugs.
Horror stories all. On the surface, the idea of tranquilizers or
anti-depressants creating hostility and violence may not make sense.
After all, they are supposed to make people calm and quiet. But the
reality is that they can and do create this effect. The scientific
evidence is overwhelming. The studies documenting this connection go
back to the 1960s when we begin to see a rise of senseless violence.
A LITTLE KNOWN FACT: WITHDRAWAL FROM PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS TURN PEOPLE
HORRIFICALLY VIOLENT
The fact that these drugs are a recipe for violence is obscured
because frequently after a violent crime has been committed,
psychiatrists or their allied organizations such as the pharmaceutical
company-funded National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), blame the
offending person's violent behavior on his failure to continue his
medication, but the truth is that violence is a documented side-effect
of withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
In 1995, a Danish medical study reported the following withdrawal
symptoms from psychotropic drug dependence: "Emotional changes: Fear,
terror, panic, fear of insanity, failing self-confidence, restlessness,
irritability, aggression, an urge to destroy and, in the worst cases, an
urge to kill." (emphasis added).
In 1996, the National Preferred Medicines Center Inc., comprising of
physicians in New Zealand, issued a report on "Acute drug withdrawal,"
saying that withdrawal from psychoactive drugs can cause 1) rebound
effects that exacerbate previous symptoms of a "disease," and 2) new
symptoms unrelated to the condition that had not been previously
experienced by the patient. The SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and
others) can create "agitation, severe depression, hallucinations and
aggressiveness."
Janet, a teenager who was prescribed minor tranquilizers and
antidepressants said that while withdrawing from these drugs, she had
violent thoughts and had to restrain her aggressiveness, including
wanting to stab anyone who withheld the decreasing drug dosage from her:
"I had absolutely no history of violence. These new feelings were not
part of the so-called 'mental illness' I was suppose to have; I had
never been aggressive before being prescribed the drugs. And once safely
and gradually withdrawn from them, never experienced uncontrollable
violent urges again."
Even the American Psychiatric Association euphemistically admits in
their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual that the major "complication" of
withdrawal from Ritalin, a psychiatric drug currently being administered
to millions, is suicide.
Withdrawal effects from these drugs can be severe and take intense
medical supervision to ensure the person safely detoxes, as an
example:
Stevie Nicks, of the rock group Fleetwood Mac talks about the intense
difficulty of detoxing from psychiatric drugs: "I'm the one who realized
that that's what was killing me [the psychiatric drug, Klonopin]." It
took her 45 days to withdrawal from the Klonopin, "I was in there sick
for 45 days, really, really sick. And I watched generations of drug
addicts come in and go out. You know, the heroin people, 12 days...and
they're gone. And I'm still just there."
There is no question that psychiatric drugs create violence. When you
marry these poisons with the toxic psychological programs in schools
today which destroy the concept of right and wrong you have a recipe for
disaster.
PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY-BASED SCHOOL PROGRAMS: A RECIPE
FOR DISASTER
Today, we are witnessing an epidemic of children being prescribed a
plethora of psychiatric drugs which have devastating side-effects,
especially the newer antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil.
In addition, billions of tax dollars have been spent on Outcome Based
Education (OBE) - psychological programs designed to de-emphasize
academics, and instead focus on altering "behavior".
These programs are cloaked under various magnanimous sounding names
such as "self-esteem training," "values clarification," "conflict
resolution," "moral reasoning" or "death education" to name a few. The
truth is that these psychological based programs have in fact raped the
minds of schoolchildren, leaving them mentally hazy, without a concept
of what is right or wrong. None of these programs are any more than
mental techniques designed to modify behavior -- or more bluntly, alter
beliefs.
The violence we are witnessing in our schools and with our children
is being created and we must look at the impact of behavior modification
classes and psychiatric drugs on the increasing violent crime rate among
children.
In 1991, despite objections from many parents about OBE, school
officials in Jefferson County Colorado adopted the Outcome-Based
Education programs. However, "OBE" had become a bad name, and
consequently Jefferson County school officials asked OBE guru William
Spady not to use the term "outcome-based education" in billings for
teacher training seminars, but rather list it as "teachers classroom
practices."
SO WHAT IS OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION?
If there was ever an example of tyranny over the minds of children, it is what is being given to them in the
name of education and "help" today, through thoroughly deceptive
behaviorist tactics like Values Clarification. Through OBE, children and
teenagers are manipulated and molded with the purpose of bringing about
certain desired "outcomes." This process, in part, involves breaking
down and subtly invalidating the child's already acquired values -- and
replacing them with the idea that there is no set right or wrong, only
personal opinion. For the child the result can be, minimally, confusion
and disorientation.
According to William Kilpatrick, author of Why Johnny Can't Tell
Right From Wrong, "feelings, personal growth, and a totally
non-judgmental attitude" are emphasized. However, "...no time is spent
providing moral guidance or forming character. The virtues are not
explained or discussed, no models of good behavior are provided, no
reason why a boy or a girl should want to be good in the first place....
They come away with the impression that even the most basic values are
matters of dispute." In fact, the authors of the original 1966 text on
Values Clarification stated, "It is entirely possible that children will
choose not to develop values. It is the teacher's responsibility to
support this choice also."
In 1995, former Values Clarification adherent, Dr. William Coulson,
Ph.D., stated, "...one of the effects of self-esteem Values
Clarification [OBE] programs is that you are no longer obliged to tell
the truth if you don't feel like it. You don't have to tell the truth
because if the truth you tell is about your own failure then your
self-esteem will go down and that is unthinkable."
Another OBE program, Death Education, further damaged children by
forcing them to focus on their own mortality: One student related the
following story: "We had an English course in seventh grade junior high
whose title was 'Death Education.' In the manual, 73 out of 80 stories
had to do with death, dying, killing, murder, suicide, and what you
wanted on your tombstone. One of the girls, a ninth grader, blew her
brains out after having written a note on her front door that said what
she wanted on her tombstone."
A class of sixth graders were asked to play a "survival game" in
which they were to decide which three people they should eliminate from
the group, according to their age and contribution; in another class
they were asked to write their own epitaphs or obituaries.
Tom DeWesse of the American Policy Foundation, and an expert on the
subject of OBE, told a Washington, D.C. press conference in 1995, about
a 9-year-old boy who "...told his mother that he ranked lumberjacks in
the same class as murderers and bigots after a Values Clarification
class. These psychologically-based programs are harming children.... OBE
is not education, it's mind control from womb to tomb."
Beverly Eakman, author and executive director of the National
Education Consortium, describes the impact of psychiatry and psychology
on schools: "Psychiatry's and Psychology's clear and stated agenda has
been to jettison systematic, academic, knowledge-based curricula in
favor of psychological fare.... Then it got worse. What information
youngsters did learn was actually harmful.
Perhaps one need only look to the initial stages of behavioral
"education" to fully understand our school systems and society today.
[Canadian psychiatrist] G. Brock Chisholm, co-founder of the World
Federation for Mental Health, set the stage for what would later come to
be known as Outcome Based Education when he stated "If the race is to be
freed from its crippling burden of good and evil it must be
psychiatrists who take the original responsibility."
Psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce, in addressing the 1973 Childhood
International Education Seminar stated "Every child entering school at
the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain
allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials,
toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward
the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as
teachers to make all these sick children well--by creating the
international child of the future."
Arm in arm, psychology and psychiatry have created that child of the
future.
CONCLUSION:
Every time a child commits an act of senseless violence, kills or
commits a violent act, the first question that must be asked is what
psychiatric mind-altering drugs was the child on? Who was the
psychiatrist treating the child? If the child was not on psychiatric
drugs at the time of the killing, when was he last on psychiatric drugs?
Was he experiencing withdrawal effects from the drugs? What was the
curriculum of the school he was attending? Did the school have Outcome
Based Education Programs such as Values Clarification, Self Esteem,
Death Education or any other psychological programs designed to
"condition" the child? These questions must be asked and the information
made public record. A national database should collect this data so that
the correlations are documented and available as public record.
Frequently when a case such as the Colorado killings occur, the
medical and juvenile records of the child may not be available due to
the fact that they are minors, so gathering this data may be difficult.
In this case, as was the case with Mitchel Johnson of the Jonesboro
Arkansas school shootings, and Michael Carneal of the West Paducah
Kentucky school shootings (among others), it is imperative that all of
the family, friends, school officials, local police and anyone who knew
the child must be queried if the truth about why children kill is ever
to come out.
Furthermore, there has recently been talk of the parents of children
who kill being held jointly responsible for their crimes, however, in
cases where children are prescribed dangerous mind-altering drugs, it is
the psychiatrists, having full access to the dangers of prescribing
these drugs to children, that should be held accountable along with the
child for the crimes committed.
Reprinted by permission.
Published as a public service by the
Citizens
Commission on Human Rights.
CCHR has been investigating and exposing abuses
in
the field ofmental health for over 30 years.