Teen Claims Antidepressant Led to Murder

[Placebo]

A teenager who shot and killed his grandparents as they slept is "a shy, decent boy" who was led to kill by the antidepressant Zoloft, his attorney said as the boy went on trial.

Christopher Pittman, now 15, is being tried as an adult for two counts of murder in the November 2001 slayings of Joe and Joy Pittman with a pump-action shotgun. Their house was set ablaze and the youth, then 12, drove off in the family car.

Defense attorney Andy Vickery said Monday that Zoloft was to blame. "This is a case about one drug that has taken three lives. When you hear the case, you will have the power and opportunity to give one back," he said. "A shy, decent boy was acting under the influence of a mind-altering drug."

Prosecutors contend Pittman shot his grandparents because they disciplined him for fighting on a school bus.

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[Selatius]

1. I thought the danger was anti-Ds making you suicidal, not homicidal

Am I mistaken?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. Prozac was known to do this

or at least highly suspected in some suicides. I can't say why one drug would make someone homocidal.

[baba]

3. What a crock.

"The Zoloft made me do it." Ridiculous.

[Pithlet]

5. Think about it.

He was 12 years old and put on Zoloft. Why would a 12 year old be put on Zoloft? Even if the Zoloft didn't contribute directly, there very well could have been something going on here.

The fact that someone is being tried as an adult for something they did when they were 12 is bad enough.

[Occulus]

6. I went off it after the recent warnings regarding other drugs.

Who the hell knows just what the long term effects are, anyway?

That said, I was a depressed, frustrated, bullied kid and I *never* got violent about it, even though I knew where the guns and the ammo were (this was before gun locks and such laws).

[soaky]

9. SSRI drugs have been reported to have this effect on some people

for years. Are they all ridiculous?

[CBGLuthier]

10. You might want to do a little research

The Zoloft made me do it may sound flippant.

How's this.

The chemicals I put in my body that were designed to change my brain chemistry made me do it.

My own personal experience with antidepressants makes me believe this 100%. I was ready to wipe out my entire family after a few weeks of Prozac.

Life may have been hard in the years since I did Prozac but I have never ever thought about homicide since.

[baba]

23. This kid needs to be held responsible for his actions.

That is my point.

[flaminbats]

35. he will be...you can count on it

the question is who will not be? Remember that the parents ultimately decide what drugs their children take.."have some more speed and prozac, then be well behavied!"

I suppose Doctors can prescribe anything without considering the longterm consequences, but not held responsible. If both are not held responsible, it will only happen again and again and again!

[flaminbats]

11. then what does Zoloft do?

if the central nervous system doesn't control our actions, what does..and how?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. So let's see..if an adult touches his genitals, he's a kid but if he kills

an adult....got it

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. >>"The Zoloft made me do it." Ridiculous.

www.drugawareness.org

[baba]

22. I believe this is a Scientology front group.

Scientologists are anti-prescription drug, and they have many "front groups" spreading their message.

[flaminbats]

24. When did the drug industry, AMA, or FDA become Scientology front groups?

These organizations profit most from the desires of the prescription drug pushers and their drug addicted patients. When you make enough money, have the right connections, and lobby the right government officials..feel free to trash the Hippocratic oath.

I thought scientologists strongly believed woolly mammoths couldn't fit on Noah's Ark, that natural selection was another puritan religious virtual..not that additive drugs like Speed, Prozac, and Zoloft should be prescribed sparingly. :eyes:

[baba]

25. Those groups aren't Scientology front groups.

But the International Coalition for Drug Awareness is a Scientology front group, according to several websites that follow these sort of things.

Scientologists don't believe drugs should be prescribed sparingly, they don't believe they should be prescribed at all.

[Megahurtz]

4. How sad.

:(

[snacker]

13. I saw this kid on the news this morning...

he was crying. It just hurt to watch him.

[Mend]

7. If he was misdiagnosed

and actually has bipolar disorder, the Zoloft could have made him behave in this way. The reason twelve year olds are put on antidepressants is that they get suicidal, as he was, and they kill themselves. Most often the antidepressants help prevent this but not in bipolar people.

[hedgehog]

28. I think you've put your finger on the answer

I can't see an SSRI making anyone suicidal or homicidal, but many bipolar people commit suicide successfully when they are cycling from depression to mania. I think Jamison's (spelling?) book Touched by Fire actually has a chart showing suicides peaking in Spring when most people with bipolar illness are going from one phase to the other. In other words, the SSRI doesn't directly cause the problem but allows an underlying problem to flare out of control.

[davidinalameda]

8. how can you be tried as an adult for something you did at 12?

that's just too much

wonder if that's where the zoloft defense came into play

[Pithlet]

12. More and more, the answer is yes.

It's a scary trend. A minor should NEVER be tried as an adult. Our justice system is eroding.

His Zoloft was doubled two days before the incident. I'm definitely not anti-antidepressant. I've been on them myself for PPD and anxiety, although I have to say I hated the Zoloft. The emotional side effects were the worst. It didn't make me homicidal, or even more aggressive, but it made me feel that the world was horrible, and I would think things like "what is the point of life." Not quite suicidal, because I never thought about killing myself. Just, less enthusiastic about life.

[Reverend Smoothfield]

27. that's what you get when DAs are elected NT

[daleo]

15. This is medieval

To try someone as an adult for an action committed as a 12 year old, and while a 12 year old was being involuntarily medicated at that? If he is convicted, do they plan to stone him or burn him at the stake?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

20. >>was being involuntarily medicated at that?

www.drugawareness.org

[stillcool]

16. Suicidal/Homicidal

The kid was f*cked up! There are obviously some problems in his life, and where do you think his parents are? I find it amazing that the same people who will no doubt want to fry this boy are the same ones who want nothing to do with social programs that provide such things as health care or after-school programs. You reap what you sow. Being an orphan I totally empathize with him, and especially at his age. Those drugs can add some much needed energy to follow through suicidal tendencies, and both sucicide and homicide are grounded in anger.

[Placebo]

18. AHH. The parents.

It always comes back to the parents.

I agree, I'd like to know where the heck they were/are.

[Habeus9]

17. Here we go again

another unsucessful defense. Roy Black tried an exact case like this here in Florida in 1997. It was State of Fl VS Brancaccio. Black's a great lawyer but he failed just like this lawyer will. It's ridiculous, but when you're desperate, you're desperate!

[daleo]

21. 12 years old.

That's like a ten year old, but 2 more years. Most kids are in Grade 6 or 7 when they are 12. Most are still playing with dolls or toy cars. Most are still sleeping in p.j.'s and usually still have teddy bears. Most are just entering puberty at 12, but not all are yet. Most are just catching on about Santa Claus.

[Flammable Materials]

26. If it weren't for Zoloft and Prozac, I'd be a dead man by now.

I'm one of the people that they have helped.

[hedgehog]

29. I'm under the impression is that an individual's response to a

particular SSRI is becoming a method of diagnosing what variety of depression or bipolar illness he has. I've known people who tried several different drugs and different dosages before hitting the magic combination. When you get the right drug(s), it's literally a life saver.

[Soopercali]

30. This is plausible.

There's a CNS side effect called dyskinesia (sp?), which has been known to make people violent or self-destructive. Remember Phil Hartman's wife? She was on Zoloft and having all kinds of strange side effects before she killed him and herself.

I had it myself when I was on a drug called desipramine, and was consumed with an almost overwhelming desire to punch myself in the face. Needless to say, I stopped the drug immediately.

[brentspeak]

33. Tardive dyskinesia

That's something different. It's a side-effect from anti-psychotics that mimics Parkinson's and/or Tourette's. Take certain anti-psychotics for too long, and a person could end up forever wincing their face, drooling, twisting their neck, etc.

[hedgehog]

31. Who in their right mind keeps a gun in the same house with a

depressed teenager? Suicide by gun shot is all too common. The only unusual thing about this story is that he shot someone else instead of himself.

[brentspeak]

32. 12-year olds don't normally become psychos

out of the clear blue sky.

I don't know if it was the Zoloft that made him do it, but obviously he wasn't playing with a full deck. But if it was the Zoloft, they'll never be prove it. In any case, kid's too dangerous to ever be let out into the public.

[Lauri16]

34. I took Zoloft

It didn't make me homicidal or suicidal, but it wasn't exactly the way the commercials portray it. I was taking it for high stress and anxiety while I was taking care of my Mom. It made me break out in a sweat for no reason at all, I was a little short-tempered, and my dreams at night, while not violent in any way, were far too........weird. My doctor took me off after 3 weeks, put me on prozac, and I was fine.

It wasn't a long term thing with me, though, which from what I read is a pretty big factor in stuff like with this kid. I was taken off after my Mom died.

[progressivebydesign]

36. Any drug will make you homocidal, if you're homocidal.

Think about it.. if he had acne, they'd blame accutane. You do the crime, you do the time... simple as that. Regardless of the excuse, you murder people, you go away.. for a long, long, time.

[Blue_Tires]

37. great defense (rolleyes)

just one step below "My PMS made me do it"