Suicidality/Homicidality

Despite the promises of two successive governments to end forced shock treatment in Ireland, unwilling patients are still being forced to undergo the therapy, according to the Sunday Independent. “Writer Ernest Hemingway, who committed suicide shortly after ECT, is reported to have said before his death: ‘It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient.’"

"During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military plied its servicemen with speed, steroids, and painkillers to help them handle extended combat,” Lukasz Kamienski writes...

From City Pages: In a 2014 University of Minnesota research scandal, a young man was coerced into an experimental drug study conducted by his psychiatrist that...

From ABC: A Queensland Coroner has found that the anti-smoking drug Champix played a role in the suicide of a 22-year-old man, Timothy John, who...

Historian Peter Frankopan delves into the use of drugs to fuel combat “from berserkers to jihadis.” “Of the US pilots who took part in...

In this piece for Psych Central, Dr. Viatcheslav Wlassoff discusses some of the safety issues and adverse effects of antidepressants. "When it comes to side effects, anticholinergic...

A new film, "Cause of Death: Unknown" investigates the pharmaceutical industry and the deaths that have been caused by psychiatric drugs. The film will...

From The New York Times: TV drug ads have dramatically increased in the past few years. According to Kantar Media, a firm that tracks multimedia advertising,...

Current suicide assessment practices of the VA are reductive and do not allow for the individual’s narrative to be heard.

A recent review found that hypnotic medications are associated with risks of suicide and suicidal ideation.

In this piece, Dr. David Healy describes the various factors contributing to the lack of awareness surrounding the harmful and potentially dangerous effects of...

From The New York Times: Michelle Carter, a 20-year-old woman, is currently being tried for urging her boyfriend to kill himself via text message. According to...

BBC news conducts a video interview with a young man named George. He was prescribed antidepressants when he was 15, after only a five-minute...

A study demonstrates a 7% reduction in suicide attempts for teens in states that had legalized same-sex marriage.

In 2004, the FDA added a black-box warning to SSRI antidepressants on the increased risk of suicide among children taking these drugs. A new study suggests that this warning has increased the proportion of children who begin an antidepressant on a low dose, but the majority are still receiving higher than recommended doses.

In exchange for pleading guilty to murder, a young soldier received a 45-year sentence with the possibility of parole. The plea resulted from evidence that Chantix, a smoking cessation drug manufactured by Pfizer, can increase hostility and agitation, according to the SunHerald. “Several experts provided some evidence that Chantix affected (the soldier’s) ability to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts,” the SunHerald noted.

Writing for the Atlantic, David Dobbs examines how much harm has been done in the 14 years since Paxil was wrongly determined to be safe and effective. “Study 329, as it became known, helped spur a huge increase in Paxil prescriptions,” Dobbs writes. “In 2002 alone, over 2 million prescriptions were written for children and teens, and many more for adults.” “Thousands of children, teens, and young adults attempted or committed suicide while on Paxil,” and the reanalysis of Study 329 in BMJ makes it seem “more likely than ever” that many did because of the drug.

Neuroskeptic covers a short article by Susan Lederer that appeared in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics discussing what happens when research participants die.

New data shows that calls to US poison control centers have increased significantly for children taking stimulant ADHD drugs.

In this interview for SciLogs, Dr. Michael P. Hengartner critiques the current research on antidepressant drugs and the state of biological psychiatry. "One has to realize...

“In 2003, Kim’s husband, Tim ("Woody") Witczak, sought help for insomnia. His doctor prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft. Five weeks later, Witczak's father found Woody...

Marci Webber is a single mom who experienced a medication-induced psychotic episode, during which she killed her daughter, believing it would "save" her, and then tried to kill herself. For over seven years now, Marci and I have been trying unsuccessfully to get the mental health system and judicial system to acknowledge the true cause of her crime and let her go.

In 2010, my 25-year old son was prescribed Prozac for depression. After a psychiatrist doubled his dose, my son became acutely psychotic and had to be admitted to the hospital. Over the next twelve months, during which time he was treated with antidepressants and neuroleptics, my son had five further psychotic experiences. I thought it might be that my son was having difficulty metabolising the drugs.

In an effort to reduce coercion, researchers isolate associated factors including age, relationship status, location, and diagnosis.

From The Boston Herald: Michelle Carter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for repeatedly encouraging her high school boyfriend to kill himself via text...