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- Prozac, the world's best-selling anti-depressant, is
being blamed for turning healthy, placid people violent. It is thought
to have led to crimes that include murder.
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- Clinical research to be published soon will show that
up to one in 10 adults who take Prozac can become belligerent and pose
a risk to others and themselves. The study is the strongest vindication
yet of mental health campaigners, who claim dozens of people have been
wrongly imprisoned because of the effects Prozac has had on their behaviour.
In the US, school shootings have been linked to number of children given
Prozac and other anti-depressants.
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- In the first clinical trial of its kind, Dr David Healy,
director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine at the
University of Wales, gave Prozac to a volunteer group of mentally healthy
adults and found even their behaviour was affected. He said: 'We can make
healthy volunteers belligerent, fearful, suicidal, and even pose a risk
to others.'
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- Healy says between one in 20 and one in 10 people who
take Prozac can be affected by akathisia, whereby they become mentally
restless or manic and lose all inhibitions about their actions 'People
don't care about the consequences as you'd normally expect. They're not
bothered about contemplating something they would usually be scared of,'
he said.
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- The study is a potentially devastating blow for the US
drug company Eli Lilly, which has made millions from Prozac. In a statement
last night the company said: 'Since its discovery in 1972, Prozac has become
one of the world's most studied drugs. An extensive review of scientific
evidence has demonstrated no causal link between Prozac and aggressive
behaviour.' Previous studies linking Prozac to violence have been discredited
because aggressive behaviour could be caused by patients' personality disorders,
not the drug. Healy's study is the first to show Prozac can affect even
healthy individuals.
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- Pam Armstrong, co-founder of the Counselling and Involuntary
Tranquilliser Addiction helpline, said: 'I have come across a huge number
of cases, from bizarre behaviour to aggression.'
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- Stephen Bryson, a surgical nurse, was prescribed Prozac
after a close friend died, and his associates were alarmed by his increasingly
bizarre behaviour. 'I was swearing, touching friends up in private parts
and would pick arguments for the sake of it and threaten their lives. I
ran around town stark naked and ran up debts of £10,000. I became
quite violent,' said Bryson. 'I had no awareness of ... right from wrong.
I was high as a kite.'
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- Bryson eventually attacked his partner with a knife.
'He was saved by the bell. If the phone hadn't rung, I would have killed
him.' Bryson was given a 12-month jail sentence. Three months after ditching
Prozac, he was 'back to my old self'.
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- Ramzia Kabbani, who set up the Prozac Survivors Support
Group a year ago, said: 'People are going to prison for what amounts to
medical negligence. If they're throwing the book at vulnerable individuals,
they should be throwing the book at the doctors who prescribe the medicine
as well.'
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- In the US, the widespread use of anti-depressants and
easy availability of guns is thought to be responsible for mass killings.
Eric Harris, 18, from Columbine High School in Colorado, who last year
shot 12 fellow students and a teacher, had been taking Luvox, similar to
Prozac. In 1998 Kip Kinkel, 14, killed his parents before going on a shooting
spree at his high school in Springfield, Oregon, killing two and injuring
22. He took Prozac.
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- Last month a US judge in Connecticut acquitted a bank
robber who blamed his behaviour on Prozac. In what is thought to be the
first ruling of its kind, Superior Court Judge Richard Arnold freed Christopher
DeAngelo, a 28-year-old insurance agent, because the defendant was unable
to appreciate his actions were wrong. Defence lawyer John Williams said:
'This was someone who was driven to commit crimes because of prescription
drugs.'
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- Eli Lilly said it has been successful in helping defeat
70 other cases where alleged criminals blamed their behaviour on Prozac.
However, Healy said: 'Eli Lilly is legally trapped. They might like to
admit that Prozac causes violence, but they could open themselves up to
all sorts of claims.'
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- anthony.browne@observer.co.uk
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- * Prozac Survivors Support Group helpline: 0161 682 3296;
Counselling & Tranquilliser Addiction helpline 0151 949 0102
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- (c) Copyright Guardian Media Group plc. 2000
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