CCHR’s latest documentary, Prescription for Violence, compiles court rulings, expert testimony, and global data—featuring attorneys, psychiatrists, and survivors—exploring the correlation between psychiatric drugs and violence and self-harm.
By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
December 12, 2025
The two-hour documentary Prescription for Violence: Psychiatry’s Deadly Side Effects confronts a question long avoided: whether the rise in mass shootings, senseless violence, and suicides correlates with the dramatic increase in psychiatric drug use. Now available to watch on the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) website, the film documents how acts of mass violence have escalated to unprecedented levels alongside widespread psychiatric prescribing. A National Institutes of Health–Centers for Disease Control (NIH–CDC) investigation into this issue was announced earlier this year.[1]
The documentary is especially timely. Drawing on case analyses from CCHR International’s global database of psychiatric drug-linked violence and suicide, over 100 high-profile acts of violence—including shootings and stabbings—have been committed by individuals taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. These incidents resulted in 532 deaths and 973 injuries. At least 39 involved school shootings or school-related violence.
Drug regulatory agency warnings reinforce these concerns. Of 634 warnings issued by drug regulatory agencies worldwide for psychiatric medications, 49 caution about violence, mania, psychosis, or homicide; 70 warn of suicide or suicidal ideation; 31 link the drugs to aggression and hostility; 37 address addiction or withdrawal effects; and 28 involve serotonin syndrome—associated with antidepressant use and marked by agitation, restlessness, and confusion.
This year, regulatory agencies in Australia and Germany added warnings of homicidal ideation for a commonly prescribed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) drug.[2] Product information noted that “aggressive behavior or hostility was more frequently observed in clinical trials among children, adolescents, and adults treated with atomoxetine compared to placebo.”[3]
Interviewed in the documentary, Los Angeles trial attorney Brent Wisner says the role of psychiatric drugs is routinely overlooked. “People are not looking at these drugs as being a possible cause,” he explains. “You see these insanely violent activities, and when you talk to them about why they did it after they’ve gotten clean from the drug,” they describe it like “watching a movie—they had no control.”
Other attorneys echo the warning. Mental health defense attorney Kendra Parris states: “It’s not that it’s happening because somebody didn’t get mental health treatment. It’s because they did get it.”
Attorney Derek Braslow: “I’ve represented hundreds of clients who were fine prior to taking one of these antidepressants or antipsychotics. And then once they started on these medications, they became violent.”
Texas trial lawyer Andy Vickery describes litigating cases involving drug side effects that include suicide, murder, and psychosis: “People going absolutely nuts and killing other people and/or themselves. That’s pretty serious.” He urges vigilance when anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, or behavioral changes emerge.
In 2001, Vickery secured a $6.4 million Wyoming jury verdict on behalf of relatives of Donald Schell, who went on a shooting rampage within two days of being prescribed the SSRI antidepressant paroxetine—killing his wife, daughter, and granddaughter before taking his own life. The jury concluded the drug “can cause some people to become homicidal and/or suicidal” and found it 80 percent responsible for the deaths.[4]
Vickery previously represented North Dakota father Ryan Ehlis, who shot and killed his daughter and then shot himself less than ten days after being prescribed the ADHD stimulant Adderall. Psychiatrists testified that Ehlis experienced delusions and hallucinations and felt “wired” from the drug. The judge agreed he was influenced by the stimulant, and Ehlis was acquitted.[5] Ehlis explains in the documentary, “I was running around naked with a shotgun, declaring myself to be the second coming of Christ. I mean, that’s what that drug did.” Adderall’s label warns it can cause psychotic episodes at recommended doses.[6]
Several high-profile U.S. shooters referenced in the documentary had histories of psychiatric drug use, including Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018. Cruz had been labeled with ADHD and prescribed stimulants known to cause hallucinations, aggression, abnormal thoughts, sudden outbursts, mood swings, and suicidal ideation.[7] He had multiple other drugs in his years of mental health treatment before announcing he was going to become the next school shooter.
The documentary features powerful testimony from Anthony Borges, a 15-year-old survivor of the Parkland shooting. Shot five times by Cruz, including in his back, Anthony spent nearly three months hospitalized and underwent 13 surgeries. “I thought I was going to die,” Anthony recalls. “I called my dad to say goodbye.” His parents also recount the devastating impact of the attack. That he survived the attack is testimony to his courage.
The film further examines how profit incentives drive psychiatric drug proliferation. Wisner states: “There is a very clear synergy between psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry… If you can boil down all mental illness to a pill, then if you’re a drug company, you’ll make billions. And if you’re a psychiatrist, you’ll make millions.”
Several psychiatrists interviewed in the documentary express their own alarm. One states: “The money put into the mental health system, the number of medications being used, are all increasing, not decreasing…They’re actually not fixing or curing anything.”
Former National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel has similarly acknowledged psychiatry’s lack of progress, noting that suicide remains the third leading cause of death among Americans aged 15 to 25. “In a sense, this is a confession,” Insel said. “My job was to make sure we made progress.”
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, emphasizes that not everyone taking psychiatric drugs will become violent or suicidal, but a percentage will. “Families deserve full transparency,” she said. “When regulators and prescribers downplay documented dangers, people pay with their lives.” She cautions that no one should stop taking psychiatric drugs without medical supervision, as withdrawal from addictive psychiatric drugs can trigger severe reactions.
CCHR encourages consumers, families, physicians, and policymakers to watch Prescription for Violence, examine the evidence for themselves, and further investigate the correlation between these drugs and violence and suicide.
[1] https://www.newsweek.com/rfk-launches-study-anxiety-meds-violence-ties-after-mass-shooting-2120990; https://thehighwire.com/news/cdc-to-utilize-most-comprehensive-data-to-analyze-connection-between-ssris-and-mass-violence/
[2] https://www.cchrint.org/2025/07/18/regulators-warn-adhd-drug-can-trigger-homicidal-thoughts-parents-and-consumers-need-to-be-informed/; Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration “Product Information safety updates – April 2025,” 22 May 2025, https://www.tga.gov.au/news/safety-updates/product-information-safety-updates-april-2025-; AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION APO-ATOMOXETINE (ATOMOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE) CAPSULES; “Atomoxetine: New warnings about serotonin syndrome and homicidal thoughts,” Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, 7 Feb. 2025, https://www.bfarm.de/SharedDocs/Risikoinformationen/Pharmakovigilanz/EN/RI/2025/RI-atomoxetin.html
[3] AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION APO-ATOMOXETINE (ATOMOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE) CAPSULES
[4] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-08-fi-7872-story.html; David Healy, Andrew Herxheimer, and David B Menkes, “Antidepressants and Violence: Problems at the Interface of Medicine and Law,” PLoS Medicine, Sept. 2006, 3(9): e372, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564177/
[5] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/; “Man sues drugmaker for $100,000,” Deseret News, 24 Sept. 2000, https://www.deseret.com/2000/9/24/19530492/man-sues-drugmaker-for-100-000; Sarah Bosely, “Family sues drug firm over baby killing,” The Guardian, 22 Feb 2000, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/23/sarahboseley
[6] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/; “Man sues drugmaker for $100,000,” Deseret News, 24 Sept. 2000, https://www.deseret.com/2000/9/24/19530492/man-sues-drugmaker-for-100-000; Sarah Bosely, “Family sues drug firm over baby killing,” The Guardian, 22 Feb 2000, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/23/sarahboseley
[7] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/; Ritalin, Side Effects Center, http://www.rxlist.com/ritalin-side-effects-drug-center.htm; Adderall, Side Effects Center, http://www.rxlist.com/adderall-side-effects-drug-center.htm; https://www.cchrint.org/2017/04/05/study-shows-long-term-use-of-adhd-drugs-ineffective-as-treatment-but-do-cause-growth-suppression/
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