This is not really an article written to suggest guilt or innocence. There is a trial going on that will determine that. I was curious whether Lindsay Clancy was taking SSRIs because recent research had linked them to violence [ European Neuropsychopharmacology (2020;36:1–9), and Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2016;109(10):381–392) . That, plus the fact that I was always fascinated by the growth in gun violence and its timing [click for more]. There are other problems with SSRIs, and I wondered if that was part of the problem.
Recently, I did a search to find the medications she was on. Here is the list:
- Sertraline (Zoloft) — SSRI antidepressant. Common early side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and trouble sleeping. Click for more.
- Fluoxetine (Prozac) — SSRI antidepressant. Side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, fatigue, anxiety, headaches, and sexual dysfunction. Click for more.
- Mirtazapine (Remeron) — antidepressant. Side effects include drowsiness, increased appetite, weight gain, dry mouth, and dizziness. It can also lead to less frequent effects like constipation, strange dreams, and elevated cholesterol.
- Trazodone — antidepressant, often used for sleep. Side effects include extreme drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, and headache. Serious risks involve low blood pressure upon standing, abnormal heart rhythms, serotonin syndrome.
- Amitriptyline — tricyclic antidepressant. Common side effects of amitriptyline include dry mouth, drowsiness, dizziness, weight gain, and constipation.
- Quetiapine (Seroquel) — atypical antipsychotic. Common side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, weight gain, and increased appetite.
- Lamotrigine (Lamictal) — mood stabilizer/anticonvulsant. Common side effects range from mild dizziness and blurry vision to rare, life-threatening skin rashes.
- Lorazepam (Ativan) — benzodiazepine. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, weakness, unsteadiness, and fatigue. These central nervous system effects can impair coordination and reaction times, making dangerous activities like driving unsafe until you know how the medication affects you.
- Clonazepam (Klonopin) — benzodiazepine. Commonly causes drowsiness, dizziness, and poor coordination. It can also lead to memory problems, fatigue, and trouble concentrating.
- Diazepam (Valium) — benzodiazepine. Side effects include drowsiness, fatigue, muscle weakness, and unsteadiness. More serious risks involve slowed breathing, severe confusion, dependence, and withdrawal.
- Zolpidem (Ambien) — sedative/hypnotic. Side effects inclued daytime drowsiness, dizziness, headache, a “drugged” feeling, and mild digestive upset, like diarrhea or dry mouth. Complex and serious behaviors—such as sleep-driving, eating, or making phone calls while not fully awake—can also occur and require immediate medical evaluation.
- Hydroxyzine — sedating antihistamine/anxiolytic. Frequently causes mild side effects like drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, and headache. Serious risks are rare but can include heart rhythm changes, confusion, and severe allergic skin reactions.
- Buspirone (Buspar) — anxiolytic. Side effects include dizziness, nausea, headache, nervousness, lightheadedness, and sleep changes.
This is not the whole picture. The side effects listed above are mostly the common ones. Some of these drugs have also been associated with much more serious behavioral effects, including agitation, akathisia (extreme inner restlessness), confusion, hallucinations, mania, unusual changes in behavior, aggression or paradoxical reactions. Benzodiazepines can occasionally produce disinhibition, agitation, rage or aggressive behavior rather than sedation. Zolpidem has been associated with complex behaviors performed while not fully awake, sometimes with no memory of the event. Antidepressants can produce activation, agitation and akathisia in some patients, particularly when treatment is started, stopped, or the dosage is changed. These reactions are uncommon, but when looking at a complicated medication history involving multiple drugs that act on the brain, they should not simply be ignored.
My guess is that she was not taking all of these at the same time. Many of the drugs do the same thing and the doctors were likely switching brands to see if they could change results. I do not want to presume guilt or innocence based on this list. It does, however, make me think we should maybe approach mental health issues a little differently.
