Another Fort Hood Shooting.

Another tragic shooting at Fort Hood reconfirms what is happening in our society. We are becoming the obese zombies of the world.  We are dumbing down thanks to our technology and too distracted by gadgets to raise our children.  When a fatal episode plays itself out we immediately scream about guns, gun-free zones, concealed carry, the second amendment and the lack of mental health awareness. All of the shootings in recent years seem to have a common thread.  All of the mentally-disturbed men who have carried out these horrific massacres were in the care of psychiatrists (or had been) and were being treated with dangerous psychotropic medications known as SSRIs.  

If we had cutting-edge medicine and a congress who were truly working for the good of the American people, someone might have noticed that so-called treatment amounts to a doctor writing a prescription for the same old drugs.  The mentally ill and psychologically impaired are being ignored.  Nobody is monitoring them, nobody knows whether or not they’re taking their meds, nobody cares if they abruptly stop taking them and nobody has figured out that these drugs may be causing enormous harm.

Spc. Ivan Lopez, the Fort Hood shooter, was not considered a wounded warrior.  He drove a truck in Fallujah for four months and was never in combat.  He was self-diagnosed with a brain injury which was never proven  He apparently had worked as a police officer in his native Puerto Rico and spent time in the national guard before joining the Army.  Although he received commendations he never moved up in rank.

I suspect that because our military is being downsized he most likely had been given an RE-4 by the Army – “not recommended for reenlistment” status.  For somebody who had worn a uniform for most of his adult life this would have been a trauma. He may have attempted to become classified as disabled in order to get full benefits. He was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation for PTSD but because he never served in combat, it’s doubtful that he would qualify.

Lopez was claimed to be suffering from depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances. He had expressed anger about being allowed to visit Puerto Rico after his mother’s death for less than two days.  He had talked about a robbery of some personal possessions on his Facebook page.  What we don’t know is whether the class of drugs he was being given (Zoloft and Ambien) caused aggressive behavior.  We suspect the drugs triggered a change in his behavior.  SSRIs – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are commonly prescribed by psychiatrists for depression.  This is the one common thread in all the massacres we have witnessed over the past few years.  The patients are usually described as psychotic, psychopathic or traumatized. 

From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook there is an undeniable connection of the assailant with a history of some form of mental illness.Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech killings) had been diagnosed with severe anxiety, depression and selective mutism (a severe disorder inhibiting his speech).  Eric Harris of the Columbine massacre had been taking Fluvoxamine.  James Holmes, the young man involved in the Aurora, Colorado "Dark Knight" movie theater killings graduated in the top 1% of his class and had been accepted to a PhD program.  He had dropped out and there is speculation about the possibility of his having mental issues  Adam Lanza, accused of the Sandy Hook School murders is claimed to have had Aspergers -- an autistic spectrum disorder – mainly affecting behavior and speech.  But there was additional speculation about his mother having been deeply concerned about his mental state.  The Washington Navy Yard was another attack which happened last year.  It involved a vicious attack by a patient, Aaron Alexis, who had been diagnosed with a mental disorder and given psychotropic meds. We have gone way overboard in protecting the privacy and civil rights of the psychologically impaired and the mentally unbalanced.  They must receive the best treatment but possibly with another class of drugs. If they are to continue being treated with dangerous SSRIs they must be admitted to a locked hospital facility for several months until their condition has stabilized.  Now it’s time for the courts to rethink their stand about protecting the civil rights of the public.