Why do some people become violent or commit suicide while on SSRI medications?
No one knows for sure, although the link between the brain chemical “serotonin” and violence and inhibition was known to scientists long before these drugs were put on the market. A 1993 article by two prominent Harvard psychopharmacologists theorized that nine different “precursor” conditions, including “akathisia” – a condition of extreme inner restlessness, sleep disruption, mania and even outright psychosis in some extreme cases, may trigger these behaviors.
