Blaming the meds

Was Christopher Harper-Mercer taking antidepressants when he killed nine persons and wounded nine others at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.? Authorities have not released that information, but the question has reignited controversy about psychiatric medications and their possible role in mass murders.

Some scientific studies show a concerning correlation between mass murders and antidepressant use. Researchers in Sweden recently conducted a study of 850,000 individuals who were prescribed SSRIs, a popular class of antidepressants that increase levels of serotonin in the brain. The study, published in PLOS Medicine in September, showed no correlation between SSRI use and violence in persons aged 25 years and older, but a small yet significant number of violent criminals, aged 15 to 24 years, had filled SSRI prescriptions.

In a 2010 study in the journal PLOS One, researchers looked at adverse effects reported between 2004 and 2009 for 484 psychiatric medications. They found 1,937 reports of violence, 387 of which were homicides.

The Los Alamos Daily Post reviewed a long list of mass murderers who allegedly took psychiatric medications. The list included Columbine mass murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold; Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children; and Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza.

Although the statistics appear alarming at first glance, it may be premature to rid the medicine cabinet of antidepressants. First, correlation does not prove causation. The fact that mass murderers sought psychiatric help and their doctors prescribed psychiatric medications suggests mental illness might have been the underlying cause of these brutal slaughters. Most mentally ill people never become violent, although a significant number of violent people have mental health problems.

Also, the researchers in the Swedish study assumed the criminals who filled prescriptions for antidepressants actually took them. Many patients, especially younger people, fill prescriptions but don’t take the pills. And even when they do, they may use them haphazardly or mix them with alcohol or other drugs.

Antidepressants are highly effective for many people but don’t work for everyone. At best they reduce symptoms, but they don’t cure, said Karl Benzio, a psychiatrist and the executive director of Lighthouse Network, a Christian addiction hotline. Benzio believes the underlying issue in mass murders is lack of adequate treatment.

“In the last hundred years we have cut spirituality out of psychological healing,” Benzio said. “When we treat people as though they are nothing but a biological organism and just throw pills at them without addressing spiritual needs, treatment doesn’t work very well.”

Not so fast

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, recently claimed to have found certain chemical modifications of DNA that can predict male homosexuality.

“To our knowledge, this is the first example of a predictive model for sexual orientation based on molecular markers,” said Tuck Ngun, lead author of the study.

The researchers studied 47 pairs of male identical twins—37 pairs of which only one twin was gay and 10 pairs of which both were homosexual. Using genetic markers, the researchers correctly classified the sexual orientation of 67 percent of the participants. Media outlets immediately declared that researchers may have found the “gay gene.”

But several geneticists at the American Society of Human Genetics 2015 conference, where Ngun presented the paper, criticized the study, The Atlantic reported. They said it was too small to be reliable, used inaccurate methods of analysis, and confused correlation with causation. The results could just as likely have been false positives or random chance associations. —J.B.