All of us have seen violent acts either in person or on television. Fights occur. Some fights result in deaths. There are few things in life more difficult to confront than random violence. We look for some explanation because the idea that we could be in a mall or a school and someone we don't know will just start shooting is too difficult to contemplate.

In what is becoming a common occurrence, another young male began shooting people at Northern Illinois University and by the time he was done, five were dead. Before that, it was a shooter in a crowded mall in Nebraska and before that, at Virginia Tech.

Some may blame guns and say that the real problem is the gun. But of course these people ignore the fact that there is a person who is pulling the trigger of this inanimate object. Some say that there is no way to stop this mindless violence because the people who commit these acts of murder are "mentally ill", and if they can't get a gun, they will use gasoline and not just kill a few but block the exits and burn whole buildings and kill countless others.

Senseless? No, anyone who looks will see that there is a common factor in these shootings. What do almost all of these mass murderers have in common besides being young males? They all were taking psychotropic drugs-most were taking SSRI-type antidepressants.

It is certainly not a surprise to most people that SSRI antidepressants are known to cause violent actions resulting in suicides or the murder of others. It is widely reported that the drug companies that make these dangerous drugs are quietly settling lawsuits filed by families of victims of people who committed suicide or killed others. Several of the drug companies have each paid in excess of $1 billion in settlements. Of course, these same companies made many more billions of dollars off these drugs and the settlements are just a cost of doing business.

Even the FDA has been forced to require black box warnings for these SSRI antidepressants because of the growing numbers of people who commit suicide or who attack other people. Often, like the recent shooter in Illinois, the SSRI user will kill others and then kill himself.

SELECTIVE SEROTONIN REUPTAKE INHIBITOR MYTHS

MYTH ONE-VIOLENCE AND SUICIDE ARE NOT SIDE EFFECTS OF SSRI'S

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ("SSRI's) have been creating suicidal thoughts, suicides and violence since Prozac, the first SSRI, was released in 1987. In fact, fifteen suicides occurred during the Prozac clinical trials in addition to twelve more deaths of the participants that all appeared to be linked to Prozac. In fact, the SSRI adverse drug reactions now number in the tens of thousands and continue to soar.

To all of us concerned about protecting our families and ourselves from random violence, the most damning information was released in Sweden in January of this year by Dr. Rickard Ljung. Dr. Ljung reviewed all of the suicides occurring in Sweden in 2006 and his findings are frightening:

· 197 (52%) of the 377 women who committed suicide had filled a prescription for antidepressants within 180 days before their death;

· An additional 29 women (8%) had filled a prescription for neuroleptics ("antipsychotics") within 180 days before the suicide;

· 259 (32%) of the 776 Scandinavian men in the sample filled a prescription for antidepressants in the 180 days before death.

· 100 (13%) of the 776 men filled a prescription for an antipsychotic in the 180 days before death.

60% of the suicides by women in Sweden in 2006 were committed by women who had taken psychotropic drugs. 45% of the suicides by men in Sweden in 2006 were committed by men who had taken psychotropic drugs

As terrible as the Swedish study is, there is no mention of the acts of violence to others that were committed by people taking SSRI's or other psychotropic drugs. For example, Andrea Yates killed her children. She was taking two antidepressants. Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, was taking antidepressants. Comedian Phil Hartman and his wife Bryn were another murder and then suicide. He was taking Zoloft, an antidepressant. Pfizer settled the resulting lawsuit out of court. Steven Kazmierczak, the Northern Illinois University shooter, was taking Prozac, Xanex and Ambien. At www.ssristories.com you will find a long list of violence committed by people taking antidepressants.

MYTH TWO-SSRI ANTIDEPRESSANTS CURE DEPRESSION

Heralded as wonder drugs by the powerful drug lobby, after the success of Prozac the major drug companies could each not wait to release their version of the next SSRI that they promised would eliminate all feelings of depression regardless of what was happening in a person's life. Lose your job-take an SSRI and you won't feel any depression. A loved one dies-take an SSRI and you will not be depressed. Your marriage is breaking up-take an SSRI and it will be a magic cure for your depression.

We are told that rather than have to confront and deal with the cause of an upset causing one to feel sad or depressed, we can just take a pill and everything will be all right. It is like telling someone who does not bathe regularly and is depressed because people don't like to be in confined spaces with him to take an SSRI so he will not feel as depressed. However, until he bathes and handles the cause of the problem, then he will continue to have no friends.

Study after study shows that people taking these SSRI's are still depressed. They may numb their feelings some but the problem is still there and most have terrible side effects created by the SSRI's. Even some of the drug companies advertise that all the other antidepressants don't work, but their pill will work.

In the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Dr. Norman Sussman stated that physicians are seeing long-term side effects from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors far in excess of what was expected from clinical trial data.

MYTH THREE-- THERE ARE MEDICAL TESTS TO DIAGNOSE DEPRESSION

In most areas of medicine, if someone comes in and complains of a pain in the stomach that persists, the doctor can have the person tested to determine if the stomach acid is too high or if there is a growth causing the problem or if it is something else. Then once the cause of the problem is determined, there are treatments available. There is no medical test that measures depression or anxiety. Yes, there have been numerous "tests" developed where a person is asked a number of questions and the answers are assigned certain numerical values and then a total is used to assign a label to a person.

Unlike other medical conditions which are only determined after extensive scientific study, in order for a condition to be listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ("DSM"), a mere majority of the psychiatrists attending their annual convention must agree on the existence of the condition or "disorder".

Perhaps this explains why groups of psychiatrists who separately examined the same patients and were asked to assign a "psychiatric" label to the person seldom agreed on the diagnosis of a patient, and most often the diagnosis was widely different.

There was a study done some years ago where a group of doctors got themselves admitted to a psychiatric hospital in California. The doctors acted normal but just complained that they were depressed. These "normal" doctors were all diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and prescribed treatments varying from medication to electric shock treatment.

MYTH FOUR-DEPRESSED PEOPLE JUST NEED MORE SEROTONIN

The stated purpose of SSRI's is to increase the amount of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (a chemical that carries messages between different nerve cells or between nerve cells and muscles), by keeping higher levels of serotonin in the brain. Normally, cells send out serotonin to other cells where it stimulates a receptor, and then most of it returns to the sending cell. This process is called "reuptake". SSRI's slow down or inhibit the return of the serotonin to the sending cell and, thus, keep a higher level of serotonin in the brain.

Serotonin acts as a natural calming agent in the brain of most people. Of course, there is no test to determine how much serotonin each of us needs to be calm. Scientists know that it varies from person to person, but generally it is thought that the more serotonin produced, the more calm a person will be.

While there are blood tests for testing the levels of serotonin (the chemical in the brain addressed by the most popular antidepressants), there is no test that will indicate that more or less serotonin is needed to control depression or anxiety. In fact, there is increasing evidence that some people will react adversely to higher levels of serotonin.

In 2003, the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry stated that serotonin deficiency is an unconfirmed hypothesis. In fact, many of the SSRI clinical trials that were buried by the drug companies concluded that a placebo worked as well or better than SSRI's. Another recent study found that exercise worked as well or better than SSRI's and did not have the dangerous side effects.

CONCLUSION

SSRI's are taking normal people and causing them to become psychotic killers. In her 2004 letter to the FDA, Dr. Ann Blake Tracy wrote, "For decades research has shown that impairing serotonin metabolism will produce migraines, hot flashes, pains around the heart, difficulty breathing, a worsening of bronchial complaints, tension and anxiety which appear from out of nowhere, depression, suicide - especially very violent suicide, hostility, violent crime, arson, substance abuse, psychosis, mania, organic brain disease, autism, anorexia, reckless driving, Alzheimer's, impulsive behavior with no concern for punishment, and argumentative behavior."

In 1964, the case of JACOBELLIS v. OHIO came before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Jacobellis operated a movie theater and had been convicted under the Ohio pornography statutes for exhibiting a movie. The issue before the court was to determine if the movies being shown by Mr. Jacobellis were pornographic. It was in this case that Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain "hard-core" pornography, or what is obscene, by saying, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it."

We may not be able to define depression, but there is no longer any doubt that SSRI's cause violence and painful side effects. Like Justice Stewart, we know it when we see it and so does the FDA, the drug companies and their paid doctors. As long as SSRI's are given out like candy, none of us are safe.