Prozac teen pleads guilty to second-degree murder - Canada

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WINNIPEG - It was a senseless murder with a senseless explanation.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/25/prozac-made-teen-kill-doc-tells-court

A 17-year-old boy fatally stabbed a 15-year-old friend after learning he had damaged the hardwood floor of his parents' home.

That's no explanation at all, a U.S. psychiatrist told court Wednesday, and all the more reason to conclude the boy's use of the anti-depressant Prozac was at the root of the killing.

"There is no reason other than a Prozac reaction," said Dr. Breggin, a New York state-based psychiatrist and author of the book, Talking Back to Prozac. "(The killing) is a mystery without that."

The accused has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the September 2009 killing. A hearing to determine whether he will be sentenced as a youth or adult concluded Wednesday. Judge Heinrichs will render his decision Aug. 4.

Court heard evidence the accused complained of depression and was prescribed Prozac three months prior to the killing. Some studies link Prozac with behavioural and emotional changes in users under 18 years of age, including an increased risk of suicide.

Nine days after began taking Prozac, the teen overdosed on his grandfather's medication in an apparent suicide attempt. His parents complained his condition was "deteriorating." A doctor at Health Sciences Centre later increased the teen's dosage of the drug.

"It was a prescription for violence," Breggin wrote in a report commissioned by the defence. "Within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I believe that Prozac drove (the accused) into a state of severe agitation with manic-like symptoms including mood swings, confusion, irrationality, extreme irritability, hostility and violence."

Breggin said the teen should have stopped taking Prozac after he attempted suicide.

"Right then and there should have been the end of the Prozac," Breggin said. "When you have a drug that is causing mania, you stop taking the drug."

Prosecutors argue the accused made a conscious decision to stab the victim and should be held responsible for his actions.

dean.pritchard@...