AMERICA HAS A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM EXACERBATED BY THE PREVALENCE OF MENTAL HEAL

AMERICA HAS A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM EXACERBATED BY THE PREVALENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH DRUGS.

The revelation that Umpqua Community College shooter Chris Mercer used the screen name “lithium love,” along with other references to prescription medication, strongly suggests that the gunman was taking psychiatric drugs that have been linked to violent outbursts.

—“There are a number of indications that Harper-Mercer had mental health or behavioral issues. His screen name on some social media sites was “lithium love.” Lithium is used as a psychiatric medication.”—

Lithium is used to enhance the effect of SSRI drugs, a number of which, “have also been linked to increase risk for violent, even homicidal behavior,” reports Time.

On one of his Facebook posts, Mercer also made reference to a number of different prescription drugs he was taking.

“I have a pill bottle with like five types of pills mixed in. I don’t know which ones are the sleep aids, so I just took four of each,” wrote Mercer.

(DISCLAIMER: I have been taking mild prescription drugs for my obsessive aspie-thinking for thirty years, which dramatically reduces the challenge of changing contexts – and so I have some familiarity with the effects of these drugs even if I cannot really comprehend the desire to do violence. Or well, other than in the abstract political sense. 😉 )