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KON4M 99
May 1999
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Part I
Ian Goddard (Ian@Goddard.net)
The Washington Post (4/29/99, A1) reports that Columbine gunman Eric Harris was on a prescription antidepressant, a new drug called "Luvox." A net search finds that Luvox "can activate mania in susceptible patients."
(Source: http://www.begin.com/redoak/medications/luvox.html)
The manufacturers prescription insert says: "LUVOX Tablets should be used cautiously in patients with a history of mania."
(Source: http://www.ocdresource.com/ocdresource.nsf/pages/Diagnosis+Luvox)
Symptoms of "mania" include: "Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior."
(Source: http://mentalhelp.net/articles/grohol/bipolar.htm)
A National Institute of Mental Health webpage includes the following mania symptoms (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/dart1/need2no/symptoms.htm):
Symptoms of Mania Include
* Inappropriate elation
* Inappropriate irritability
* Grandiose notions
* Disconnected and racing thoughts
* Markedly increased energy
* Poor judgment
* Inappropriate social behavior
All of which appear to be applicable to the actions and grandiose ideas of Eric Harris, which included an plan in which, after killing their fellow students, the two would escape to an Island in Mexico and then return to the US to crash a plane into New York City. Wow! Now if that's not a "grandiose notion" pray tell what is?
It's important to note that The Washington Post article says Eric Harris was the leader of the two dead gunmen. So Dylan Klebold was following his friend who was on a psychotropic drug that's known to activate mania, which can manifest itself as aggressive behavior.
Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, author of "Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?," lists "aggressive or violent behavior" as a side effect of antidepressants such as Luvox. Dr Tracy states that long-term users of antidepressants can loose the distinction between reality and dream. She says some patients enter an "anesthetic sleep state" where they do things that later they can't believe or recall they did.
(Source: http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3568)
Searching the MEDLINE database at the National Library of Medicine website (http://igm.nlm.nih.gov) I found a study by doctors from the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel that came to this conclusion about Luvox, or fluvoxamine:
"Our case series suggests that fluvoxamine may have the ability to induce or unmask manic behavior in depressed patients. Clinicians are alerted to monitor for this 'switching' effect..."
TITLE: Fluvoxamine-associated manic behavior: a case series.
AUTHORS: Dorevitch A; Frankel Y; Bar-Halperin A; Aronzon R; Zilberman L
SOURCE: Ann Pharmacother 1993 Dec;27(12):1455-7
CITATION IDS: PMID: 8305775 UI: 94138126
Some other studies I found @ http://igm.nlm.nih.gov :
TITLE: Mania and fluvoxamine.
AUTHORS: Burrai C, et al.
SOURCE: Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Sep;148(9):1263-4.
CIT. IDS: PMID: 1909099 UI: 91353783
TITLE: Fluvoxamine-associated mania/hypomania in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
AUTHORS: Jefferson JW, et al.
SOURCE: J Clin Psychopharmacol. 1991 Dec;11(6):391-2.
CIT. IDS: PMID: 1770160 UI: 92121482
There are a dozen or more studies on Prozac-induced mania (http://igm.nlm.nih.gov). Both Prozac and Luvox are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).
It's only too clear that Eric Harris manifested the known side effects of the drug and/or physiological symptoms contraindicated for the drug, and thus he should have (a) never been prescribed Luvox, or (b) been taken off it; which is of course 100% apparent only in hindsight. The Post didn't mention the drug's side effects, only that the Marines rejected him since he was on the drug (it may have hurt him in several ways).
GODDARD'S JOURNAL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/journal.htm
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