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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Columbine Anniversary - SSRIs and adolescent violent behavior

Philip Dawdy wrote an article today about Columbine anniversary where he raises many aspects of the tragedy focusing on Eric Harris who was the ringleader of the shootings.
I saw an interview with Eric Harris's mother at the TV and she said that while he was on Zoloft he claimed he was not feeling well so it was changed for Luvox.
As Philip said:
"While anti-depressants surely didn't help Harris and will forever be linked to Columbine, I don't think they were a precipitating cause of the event. Are they connected? Sure. Did they make Harris and Klebold go storming through their high school and shooting whomever they pleased? They are in the mix, but that's about it. There was something deeper and dark going on with the pair, especially with Harris, than mere teen depression and a bad SSRI."
I've been thinking about adolescents and how they are having problems that nobody seems to care or even know how to handle. That's why I wrote the post on Jeremy Welles - who has inspired Eddie Vedder to write the song "Jeremy" - the 16-years-old-boy who has killed himself in front of his classmates.
I believe that it is about time to start taking care about teenagers. Whether SSRIs can trigger violent behavior, and I believe it does because of my own experience, or not teens are having problems that goes far beyond the acceptable.
Read Philip Dawdy's article on Columbine here.

2 comments:

Herrad said...

Hi Ana,

Thanks for the Columbine post it is thought provoking and moving.

Horrible waste of young people.

Had not considered the link between drugs and depression and the deaths but mow its like the penny has dropped.

Thanks.

Take care.
Have a good day.

Love,

Herrad

Ana said...

There is a great deal of violence related to SSRIs.
This is sad.