Between 1996 and 2005, Reuters reports, the use of anti-depressants doubled to nearly 10 percent of the American population. In 1996, the figure was 13 million. Now, it's 27 million.

Those numbers, obviously, should cause some worry.

For one thing, the suicide rate for middle-aged people is rising, Reuters reported, suicide being a risk factor in taking antidepressants. According to the Journal of Preventative Medicine, the suicide rate for middle-aged Americans increased 16 percent from 1999 to 2008, which roughly coincides with the massive increase in anti-depressant use.

Indeed, such is the risk for suicide that each container carries a “black box warning.” The Food and Drug Administration issued the mandate to carry the warning in 2007. Studies had shown the drugs increased the risk of suicide in teens and children. Clearly, as the psychiatrist quoted for the Reuters piece suggested, they might just increase the risk for the middle-aged as well.

For another thing, while these folks, most of them baby boomers, are usually killing only themselves, their children aren’t. The baby boomers’ kids take others with them before they commit suicide.

Recall that several of the notorious school shooters were taking such medications, most notably Eric Harris, one of the two shooters at Columbine High in Colorado. Harris and his partner, Dylan Klebold, slaughtered 12 students and a teacher, while injuring 21, before killing themselves. Harris was taking Luvox.

Kipland P. Kinkel was taking Prozac when he shot up Thurston High in Springfield, Oregon, killing two and injuring 25. Kinkel is serving life in prison.

Jeff Weise, who murdered nine, including his grandfather and five students at Red Lake High School in Minnesota, before killing himself, also was taking Prozac.

Investigators also believed Cho Seung Hui was taking an antidepressant when he massacred 30 persons at Virginia Tech, then killed himself, in 2007.

Given the school shootings, one wonders whether the drugs increase the risk not just of suicide but of violent behavior as well. One peer-reviewed journal flatly asserts that antidepressants foment violent behavior.

Yet even more frightening than nearly 10 percent of Americans taking drugs is one subset of the population taking them. It isn’t just baby boomers and their teenagers. Even two- and four-year-olds are getting doped. No one, of course, knows what these drugs do to a developing brain.

The point here isn't that some people don't need anti-depressants. Depression is a real and debilitating condition. Some medicine may help. Therapy may help as well. Point is, common sense should tell us that the number of people suffering real depression could not have doubled in a less than 10 years.

That leaves the question of why so many Americans are popping pills. The report says the stigma associated with treatment for depression has abated, and its less expensive to take a drug than see a therapist. But given that more Americans than ever are taking the drugs, and the patients receiving them are taking more of the drugs than ever, another answer is obvious: the psychiatrists who prescribe them, and the drug companies who sell them, are making a fortune. Sales topped $11 billion in 2008. Two drugs, Effexor and Cymbalta, captured half the market share, $6.63 billion.

It’s a fast way to make a buck.

R. Cort Kirkwood, managing editor of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., has been writing about American politics and culture for more than 20 years. Mr. Kirkwood has written for Chronicles, The New American, National Review, The Remnant, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, The Baltimore Sun, The Orange County Register, Taki’s Top Drawer online magazine, and LewRockwell.com. For several years, he syndicated a column, “The Hard Line.” Mr. Kirkwood is the author of the nonfiction title, Real Men: Ten Courageous Americans To Know And Admire, published by Cumberland House.
 

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Amy Philo said:

	Babies being doped up as well Also on the list are unborn and nursing babies who are being drugged via their mothers. I kind of doubt those are being included in the 27 million number. http://uniteforlife.wordpress.com/
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August 05, 2009
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R J Stove said:

	Similar tale in Australia It's a similar story in Australia with antidepressants, although the use of compulsory Ritalin would be much rarer among Australian kids, even now, than among American kids. I can't remember at present the Australian antidepressant consumption statistics; but a book called Understanding Depression, by Melbourne-based writer Maria Prendergast, has the gory details.
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August 05, 2009
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Bill Wagner said:

This is what we need! The age of the psychiatrist is coming to an end. For mankind to move forward at all, psychiatry needs to be eradicated as a science and a profession. Allowing this to occur in our society is unacceptable. In order to evolve as a species, we have no other choice. All of us need to stand up to the ubiquitous atrocities committed by these so called "doctors". Please unite with me. Take a stance. Call your congressman. Speak out. Thank you for listening.

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August 05, 2009
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Flu-Bird said:

	they call it dope As the 70s antidrug ads used to say WHY DO YOU THINK THEY CALL IT DOPE? and whats ever become of JUST SAY NO? and YOU KNOW YOUR ALIBERAL WHEN YOU WANT GUNS BANNED AND DRUGS LEGALIZED
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August 05, 2009
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Rosiecee said:

... The Physicians Desk Reference states that SSRI antidepressants and all antidepressants can cause mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, etc. These side effects can also appear during withdrawal. Go to www.SSRIstories.com where there are over 3,200 cases, with the full media article available, involving bizarre murders, suicides, school shootings [48 of these] and murder-suicides - all of which involve SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc, . The media article usually tells which SSRI antidepressant the perpetrator was taking or had been using.

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August 06, 2009 | url
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general said:

... The need to print more articles like this is great. SSRIs are very addictive and Withdrawal from the these drugs is considered dangerous. Much of the violence and suicides associated with these drugs occur during attempts to stop taking them. The medical community uses a euphemism for withdrawal - They call it "discontinuation syndrome." So many innocent people have died as a result of SSRIs it makes me want to cry. By the way, FluBird, many liberals know that guns have been around a long time and have little to do with the violence associated with SSRIs

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August 22, 2009
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