With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to loom over us, more people than ever have resorted to taking antidepressant drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
But, as I’ve reported before, research shows SSRIs don’t work better than placebo in improving mood. Plus, they’re linked to a slew of dangerous side effects.
In fact, a new study just found that people who take SSRIs have a higher risk of committing violent crimes. Worse yet, that risk can persist up to 12 weeks after getting off the drugs!
I’ll tell you more about that disturbing study in a moment. But first, let’s back up…
The drugs are as lethal as bullets
About 20 years ago, when working as a consulting forensic pathologist and toxicologist, I began to notice an unsettling connection between SSRIs and suicide. I saw case after case where a stable depressed person began taking an antidepressant, only to suddenly commit suicide.
I remember one sad case in particular of a man who had been so depressed that he could barely move. Then, one day, within just a few weeks of starting an SSRI, he got into his car, drove to a spot on the Potomac River, jumped in, and drowned himself.
Of course, at the time, mainstream medicine remained in deep denial about the connection between antidepressants and suicide. After all, the ultimate duty of a psychiatrist treating a person with clinical depression is to stop suicide from happening. Indeed, as long as a patient doesn’t die, time and treatment can eventually heal—or at least help—mood disorders.
Tragically, these pills seem to actually cause the most important thing they were supposed to prevent! So, it took many mainstream minions a long time to face the cold, hard truth about them.
But really, it’s not all that surprising. Especially when you understand how depression works…
Remember, when people feel stressed, overwhelmed, and depressed, they shut down and go into a “conservation-withdrawal” state. In this state of near paralysis, they cannot muster the energy to act upon their negative thoughts and ideas—such as causing self-harm or even harm to others. I’ve always considered this mechanism Nature’s way of protecting the depressed person.
However, when a depressed person starts to take an antidepressant, the drug jumpstarts their brain back into activity—without doing a darn thing to address the underlying causes of depression. As a result, the depressed person suddenly has the energy to act out their persistent thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
In my view, this mechanism also explains the clear connection between SSRIs and violent behavior directed at others, including mass shootings…
For decades, they denied what was right in front of them
Several years ago, I began noticing that all the supposed “unexplained” worldwide mass shootings were conducted by mentally disturbed people who had been taking antidepressants and/or other psychiatric drugs.
Yet, the politically correct and most mainstream media only talked about the “gun problem” and the underlying, generic inadequacy of the social structure. Without saying a word about these prescription drugs!
In fact, during the Obama administration, they even appointed a Surgeon General who was a supposed expert on the “medical aspects of gun violence.” Clearly, it was a made-up field, because he should have known about (and done something about) the strong link between SSRIs and violence.
Thankfully, as I mentioned at the beginning of this Dispatch, we have more actual data to give teeth to this anecdotal and historical evidence…
New study finds clear link between SSRIs and violent crime
A new Swedish study involved more than 800,000 people who were prescribed an SSRI between 2006 and 2013. The researchers followed the participants for an average of about seven years, which included periods of time when they took an SSRI and periods of time when they did not. This allowed the participants to act as their own “control,” so researchers could compare their behavior when taking—and not taking—the drug.
Over those seven years, about 6,000 participants committed a violent crime while taking an SSRI and about 26,000 committed a crime when not taking the drugs. But when the researchers looked closely at the specific data, accounting for follow-up time and other variables, they found that people had a 26 percent higher risk of committing a violent crime while taking an SSRI compared to when they were not taking the drugs.
And that risk persisted for up to 12 weeks after the people stopped taking the drugs!
The study’s lead author, Tyra Lagerberg, stated that, “more work is necessary to identify what further individual characteristics might give someone a higher risk of committing violent crimes during SSRI treatment.”
There they go again!
We don’t need more research! We’ve got more than we need to implicate these useless drugs for this problem and many others…
Always try safer options first
In the end, getting on this failed and dangerous drug merry-go-round isn’t something I ever recommend. Instead, if you’re susceptible to suffering from depression—or know someone who is—give these three natural approaches a chance, first:
- 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Most people have deficient or insufficient levels of vitamin D. And soaking up some sun activates the natural production of this essential nutrient in your skin. Independently, sunshine also boosts your mood and your health. (Being in Nature in general tends to have its own healing properties.) So, as always, get out in the sun as much as possible. I also recommend taking 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily to obtain all of this essential nutrient’s health benefits, year-round.
- Daily outdoor exercise. Once you are outside soaking up some sun, I also recommend engaging in some healthy, moderate exercise, like walking, swimming, or doing yard work. Studies show moderate exercise works well to help combat depression. You’ll enjoy feeling that you’ve accomplished something real. Plus, when you exercise out in Nature, the exposure to sunlight will help naturally boost your mood, immunity, and health. So, aim for about 20 minutes of daily, moderate activity. (And tune back in on Friday to discover how much time you should spend in Nature to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.)
- Add fish oil and herbal remedies to your regimen. You can also take fish oil, which is shown to boost mood naturally. Fish oil contains omega-3 fatty acids with a multiplicity of health benefits. I recommend you take 2,000 mg per day of a high-quality fish oil and eat wild-caught, fresh seafood at least two to three times per week. Several herbal remedies, such as St. John’s wort, are also shown to improve mood.
For a complete rundown of all of the effective, non-drug approaches for managing your mood and combatting depression, refer back to the January 2017 issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter (“My 8-step, drug-free plan to beating depression in later life”). Subscribers can access this issue from the archives. If you’re not already a subscriber, now is the perfect time to become one.
And most importantly, if you or a loved struggle with suicidal thoughts, please don’t wait. Help is available now. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK.
Source:
“Associations between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and violent crime in adolescents, young, and older adults – a Swedish register-based study.” European Neuropsychopharmacology, 7/2020. 36: 1-9. doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2020.03.024