A fog of drugs and war
ALERT: More than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year took antidepressants, sedatives and other prescription medications. Some see a link to aberrant behavior.
After two long-running wars with escalating levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs, according to figures recently disclosed to The Times by the U.S. Army surgeon general. Nearly 8% of the active-duty Army is now on sedatives and more than 6% is on antidepressants — an eightfold increase since 2005.
... And I don't believe the current increase in suicides and homicides in the military is a coincidence,"
TONY DIGIROLAMO- I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THIS PEOPLE! CULTURE SHOCK HAS BEEN SO RIGHT ON WITH THIS TRAGEDY!
Have we not paid any attention America to what happens in congressional hearings. Surely the press knows this.
Sen. Jim Webb, of Va, said, in an op-ed, by Martha Rosenberg, Are Soldiers Suicides Caused by Prescription Drugs? "Still, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. called the one of every six troops who are now on psychoactive drugs "pretty astounding and also very troubling," in Senate hearings this year and Retired Col. Bart Billings, a former Army psychologist who has also testified before Congress, says, "I feel flat out that psychiatrists are directly responsible for deaths in our military, for some of these suicides," in a March Marine Times article. "I think it's criminal, what they are doing."
... Chairman Filner asked Dr. Peter Breggin to lead off with testimony about "Anti-depressant-induced Suicide, Violence, and Mania: Implications for the Military."
Recently, concern has been expressed about the increased prescription of psychi atric medications, especially antidepressants, to military personnel (Lorge, 2008; Thompson, 2008). In presentations at military conferences on combat stress (Breggin, 2009, 2010a) and in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Veter ans Affairs Committee (Breggin, 201 Ob), I have pointed to a probable causal relationship between increasing rates of antidepressant prescription and increasing rates of suicide in the military. This article reviews and evaluates the relevant scientific data.
