By Ralph Lopez Psychiatrists have come forward to assert that certain psychiatric medications, such as those known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are almost certainly the chemical cause of a high number of instances of random violence and suicide in which SSRIs have been present. The research challenges the pharmaceutical industry’s defense that the high correlation between random violence and the presence of these medications is due to the mental illness itself, not the drugs being prescribed for the illness. Other critics of the industry claim that drugs tend to be too aggressively marketed and over-prescribed.
The media has reported that the suspected shooter in the Sandy Hook multiple killings, Adam Lanza, was possibly on some form of psychiatric medication, perhaps related to a reported diagnosis of a form of autism, a developmental disorder that affects social and communication skills. Authorities have yet to make a statement on what, if any, psychiatric medications Lanza was on or had been on in the past. The SSRI with the brand name