Fort Lauderdale gunman was "receiving psychological treatment"

[ellenrr]

have not heard if he'd been taking antidepressants, but if he was, that could explain his actions.

[uppityperson]

1. Taking antidepressants makes you do mass murders? What?

I sincerely hope that is not what you mean.

[spin]

2. The theory linking antidepressants to mass murders has been around for a while. ...

I don't know if any studies have been done to to verify or disprove this theory. I suspect the pharmaceutical industry would oppose such research.

You can find information about this theory by using Google. Many of the links will take you to conservative sites.

Antidepressants have been linked to suicide.

Suicide & Antidepressants

While antidepressants are designed to decrease the symptoms of depression, they occasionally have the opposite effect and can increase suicidal thoughts and actions.

Patients who take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac (fluoxetine), Paxil (paroxetine) or Zoloft (sertraline) may experience side effects such as violent behavior, mania or aggression, which can all lead to suicide.

What begins as withdrawing from friends and activities and a loss of interest in work can escalate to harming oneself. In clinical trials and public use, there have been cases where antidepressant users have thought about, attempted or committed suicide.
https://www.drugwatch.com/ssri/suicide/

I actually have know a person who was taking an antidepressant to help him sleep. Shortly after he started taking the drug he was driving on the freeway and suddenly had an almost overwhelming impulse to drive his vehicle into an overpass abutment. He managed to fight it off but it really scared him.

[uppityperson]

3. I've friends whose lives have been saved by antidepressants. No med is perfect for everyone, but

saying being on antidepressants could explain mass murder is not cool for many reasons.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. +1

[spin]

5. I have no idea if the theory is valid or not. I'm just aware that it exists. ...

I also know people who have been helped by antidepressants. In almost all cases they work well. However they are powerful drugs and do have side effects. It's wise to be aware of this if you take or are considering taking antidepressants.

I personally try my best to avoid taking any prescription medicine unless absolutely necessary.

[easttexaslefty]

8. Offs

Antidepressants have saved me from killing myself. Maybe they would have saved my son too.

[Demsrule86]

11. I am so sorry.

My daughter had a serious run in with depression and we nearly lost her...it is a daily battle and I am sick of people stating what this OP has said ...there is enough stigma attached to depression...maybe more would seek help if we had more places to get help ...very hard now...and if they were not judged so harshly. We had insurance and without it, my daughter would not have made it...think about that as the evil GOP is about to throw 20 million people off of insurance.

[Demsrule86]

9. I have seen the crap written about this...

and it has nothing to do with anti-depressants...what an awful thing to post. There is enough stigma attached to depression ...you should delete this...really.

[spin]

13. I did not say that antidepressants cause mass murder. ...

I merely pointed out to another poster that there is a theory that they do. My post was a reply to another poster who had stated ...

Taking antidepressants makes you do mass murders? What?

I have known a number of people who have suffered from depression, several who are members of my own family. In most cases antidepressants were helpful in treating their illness. They are powerful drugs and some people may find they can have negative side effects. However I did not intend to imply that they can cause people to commit mass murder.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Alot of people on here (myself included) might find this rather bigoted.

While my depression is treatment resistant and I have yet to find an antidepressant that works for me, I have taken them for a good portion of my adult life, and have never felt any kind of impulse to commit acts of violence. I'd be willing to bet that a sizeable number of other DUers could make the same statement.

There have always been violent people, and there probably always will be. His actions are far more adequately explained by the fact that he had easy access to firearms, despite having violent delusions that were known to the FBI.

Fundamentally, this happened because of a choice that America has made about the kind of society it wants to be. Collectively, we value gun rights over human life, and this is the consequence.

Please don't scapegoat people with mental illness, or those who use certain medications. It's a really crappy way of deflecting from the real issues.

[HoneyBadger]

7. I do not just "blame" people that take drugs for mental issues

Prescription drugs in general can cause mental issues. I was just on 2 months of malaria meds, and one that is effective on malaria and dirt cheap, is effectively banned now because they cause such debilitating nightmares that people would rather take a chance on dying of malaria. Guess who handed out this drug like Tic Tacs? Our military.

[Demsrule86]

10. No it would not explain mass murder and you should delete this post.

People who take anti-depressants are not potential mass murderers...in my opinion, that is gun people talk. I have no doubt that some people who commit mass murder may suffer from some sort of mental illness..and that would be treated with a variety of medication including antidepressants...but taking the medication is not the cause. Sometimes but not all the time, the illness is the cause. And not all people who commit mass murder are mentally ill either...the easy access to guns and the lack of a mental health infrastructure is the reason we are one of the most violent countries.

[HoneyBadger]

12. NIH says that there is a correlation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1600918