How SSRI Antidepressants Cause Suicide, Homicide and Mass Shootings
The 40-minute, 40-slide presentation is delivered by David Carmichael. Close to 18 minutes of the presentation is video clips:
- Slide 2 – David Carmichael interviewed by psychiatrist Josef Witt-Doerring (9:00)
- Slide 4 – Psychiatrist Peter Breggin and trial lawyer Andy Vickery (2:19)
- Slide 6 – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (0:54)
- Slide 7 – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Minnesota senator Tina Smith (1:18)
- Slide 23 – News clip about Lindsay Clancy (0:58)
- Slide 28 – Podcast clip about Angelynn Mock (0:29)
- Slide 29 – David Carmichael (0:22)
- Slide 33 – Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (0:27)
- Slide 39 – Trial lawyer Bent Wisner interviewed by Tim O’Brien (1:59)
In July 2004, after a successful 20-year career promoting physical activity and sport, with no history of mental illness, David Carmichael had a psychotic episode shortly after starting the SSRI Paxil and planned then calmly took the life of his 11-year-old son, Ian, in London, Canada. He was then charged with first-degree murder, judged not criminally responsible (insane) in October 2005, and institutionalized in a mental health centre (forensic psychiatric hospital). David was conditionally discharged in December 2007, which allowed him to live with his wife and daughter again. He received an absolute discharge from the Ontario Review Board in December 2009, and has been off psychiatric drugs since September 2010.
David and Dr. Jasper Chen, a board certified psychiatrist in Wyoming, United States, share some important messages about SSRI antidepressants in this 2-minute FOX/ABC news segment from a presentation delivered in Cheyenne, which is where there was a precedent setting Paxil civil litigation case for murders/suicide in 2001.
During his presentation How SSRI Antidepressants Cause Suicide, Homicide and Mass Shootings, David talks about how the medical system in general and specifically SSRI antidepressants are largely responsible for causing many suicides, homicides and mass shootings.
David also provides insight into his homicidal psychotic episode, which includes playing this 1-minute clip from his interview with BBC Panorama for the 2017 documentary A Prescription for Murder? showing his calm behaviour after he was arrested, which is how a lot of people have described the normal appearance of loved ones just before they died by suicide or committed homicide. His planned and organized homicide, and calm behaviour, is similar to many mass shooters, which he describes in this 2018 Mad in America blog post.
Contact David if you would like him to deliver his 40-minute presentation in your community.
Need for Presentation
In the United States, the number of people using antidepressants more than doubled between 1996 and 2005, from 13 million to 27 million. In 2005, antidepressants was the most commonly prescribed class of drugs in America. Between 2015 and 2018, 13.2% of American adults had used antidepressants; 19% of those 60 years of age and over. The monthly dispening rates of antidepressants in the United States increased by 66.3% for 12 to 25 year olds between 2016 and 2022, with an increase of 130% among 12 to 17 year old females.
In Canada, there were 64 million prescriptions for antidepressants dispensed in 2021, which was more than any other class of drugs. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 6.4% increase in prescriptions and another 3.8% increase in 2021, with 23.4% of seniors (65 and older) using antidepressants that year.
The global antidepressant market was valued at $15.65 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $21 billion by 2030, and consumers are getting younger. In England, for example, there was a 41% increase in the prescribing of antidepressants to 5- to 12-year-olds between 2015 and 2021.
Safety and Effectiveness
Antidepressants often do more harm than good, including not protecting against suicide. The type of antidepressants most prescribed since the late 1980s, based largely on the false claim that they correct a chemical imbalance in the brain, are SSRIs.
SSRIs are only effective 15 percent of the time and often cause the side effects of akathisia (not being able to remain still), emotional blunting (inability to feel positive or negative emotions), sexual dysfunction (can be permanent), and suicidal ideation (forming of ideas). Another side effect of SSRIs is alcohol misuse, which can lead to many personal, family and community problems, including DUI (driving under the influence) car accidents.
According to Swedish researchers, consumers of SSRI antidepressants under 18 years of age are three times more likely to attempt suicide than those not being treated by SSRI antidepresants for what was diagnosed as depression, and the risk of suicide attempts for 18- to 24-year-olds is double. The Swedish study also concluded that SSRIs do not prevent suicide at any age, even for those at high risk of suicide.
Presentation also Addresses Broader Medical System Issues
The dominant influence that pharmaceutical companies have on the medical system is also addressed in the presentation. The focus is on SSRI antidepressants, but other prescriptions drugs are discussed at the end of the presentation including Purdue Pharma’s opioid OxyContin and GlaxoSmithKline’s heartburn drug Zantac.
In this 2-minute video, for example, California trial lawyer Brent Wisner talks with Tim O’Brien on his podcast Shaping Opinion about GlaxoSmithKline fraudulently concealing data about cancer-causing contaminants in the drug Zantac to get it approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in 1983 for treating heartburn. Hidden documents were discovered through a civil litigation process. In 2020, the FDA requested that Zantac and its generic version ranitidine be withdrawn from the market.