Chris Pittman/Zoloft murder trial...sad

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I saw this on television, parents and all interviewed, and thought I'd post about it. Trust me, watching the case of television had more impact. I believe the child, who had never been violent before, was drug affected when he killed his grandparents. This is the case that spawned the black box warning on SSRIs. I just found it very hard to watch, very sad and thought I'd share. We have to be SO CAREFUL with our kids and their medications. Chris's sister said her brother was acting "manicky" before he moved to his grandparent's house, yet his diagnosis was not bipolar, but depression. Here's the story. You judge.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/15/zoloft.trial/index.html
 

Stella Johnson

Active Member
Honestly I don't believe the Zoloft defense. I watched this story on CNN an court tv a while back. The kid had major anger issues and suicidal thoughts way before the murders.

steph
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I took Zoloft once and it affected me in a scary way. This child had no anger issues. He treatened suicide once so they put him on Paxil then switched it to Zoloft and that's when he murdered his grandfather. He claimed he heard voices in his head telling him "Kill, kill!" I know you can get psychotic on antidepressants. Happened to me twice. I do think it was a big factor, but JMO. Twelve year old kids normally do not kill people. Doctors need to tell parents all the possible risks before prescribing. Heck, they didn't even tell me about SSRI withdrawal and I'm an adult. At any rate, it's sad.>
 

Sara PA

New Member
I'm sure that it will come as no surprise to anyone that I absolutely believe that any of the antidepressants can cause homicidal ideation and compulsive behavior like this child displayed. Not only did I see it in my own son (along with irrational, psychotic thinking), the clinical research on SSRIs identified these behaviors starting with the preapproval testing on Prozac, the first one. And I belive Christopher Wittman is a victim.

He had relatively minor anger issues and suicidal ideation prior to being put on Paxil when he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He was switched to Zoloft when he came out of the hospital. The child more likely had psychological problems as a result of abandonment and abuse combined with poor parenting, rather than a neurological deficiency that required medication.

One needs to keep in mind that virtually all these rather bizarre murders committed by young children -- a realtively recent phenomenon, by the way -- have involved children who take some sort of medication which lists hostility or aggression as side effects. To ignore that is foolish.

ETA: I see MWM and I were typing the same response at the same time, right down to the psychosis part.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I absolutely believe the Zoloft defense as well. After 3 weeks on Zoloft, my son trashed our house, bruised my husband's ribs when he tried to restrain J and threatened to jump out of a moving car. My daughter exhibited strange and disinhibited behavior after starting Paxil. My kids will never take those particular medications again.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Wiz was on Zoloft for a while. It was while another of our members had a child in jail for acting on psychotic thoughts induced by Zoloft. I discovered that on other SSRI medications he was NOT homicidal or suicidal when we switched OFF of Zoloft.

Even Wiz commented that it was nice to NOT want to kill someone. Of course, WIZ wanted to kill us long before he was put on SSRI medications. But while the first month on Zoloft was awesome, by month 3 he was seriously into psychoses. I had to FIGHT to get it changed in the psychiatric hospital. After a month on Effexor he was better. Then, month 3 on Effexor he wigged out again. So we went off all sswhatever medications totally. And were back to just suicide. We HAD to add Luvox to keep him alive. No choice other than this. But, while I am fine on prozac but NOT on other SSmeds, he is fine on Luvox and not others.

Everyone reacts differently to every medication. But Zoloft needs to come off the market. And we need to monitor our kids carefully and be VERY aware that violence can come on suddenly a few months after being on a medication - side effects are not all there the first couple of months. And THAT is NOT what our docs tell us.

by the way - EFFEXOR is the worst medication out there. The effects of being late taking a dose are horrendous, truly the worst feelings on the planet. I didn't understnad this until I was prescribed the medication. It took 3 months for the side effects to wear off. And I needed prozac to minimize those side effects or I was heading to suicide myself. And I was NEVER EVER suicidal before that. This medication should be the LAST medication anyone puts their child on. and be SURE you can give it at the same time and NEVER EVER run out, because it is just AWFUL when you do run out or are late in taking the medication.
 

Sara PA

New Member
Effexor's prescribing information actually listed homicidal ideation as a side effect for many years. It recently was able to get that changed got to stuff those reactions under "hostility" and "aggression" like the other antidepressants do.
 
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bran155

Guest
I saw this a while ago. It was originally aired I believe a couple of years ago. I was disgusted then. This kid who does not have a violent history just snapped while on Zoloft.
His lawyer actually brought in evidence to show that in fact this has happened before. I thought for sure he would be cleared of all charges. What a world!!!!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
And if you have any violent tendencies before taking it, you sure shouldn't be taking it at all! I, an adult, was never violent, but on Zoloft I felt so out of control and scared of what I would do that I ended up in the hospital.
Another story: I have a Little Sister (from Big Brothers, Little Sisters) and she has bipolar. She was recently put on Zoloft. She ended up in the hospital. It is beyond my understanding why SSRIs are prescribed to children. To me, and this is JMO, mood stabilizers should be tried first. It IS true that every child who has killed was on some medication--from stims to antidepressants. My guess (just a layman's guess) is that these children had problems BEFORE the medications, but the medications put them over-the-line-of-control. Since I've taken so many medications myself I have an unusual perspective. These medications are just as often going to make you worse then better--and kids can't express it as well as adults so are often kept on incompatible drugs for longer periods of times. Our psychiatrists are very irresponsible in my opinion at handing out medications to kids. Hey, they did it to my son. "So this didn't work? Um, let's try this." I'm lucky my own son never got violent. He is better off all medications. I know some kids need medication, but they should be monitored MUCH closer and in my opinion SSRIs should be last resorts. And stims--they hand them out like candy and they are speed. I am sure Christopher acted out because of the Zoloft. He never hurt anyone before he took it. I felt like hurting myself or someone else on the Zoloft (and also on other antidepressants). You need to be so careful...vent over :)
 

Josie

Active Member
I believe in the Zoloft defense. My daughter didn't get violent from taking Lexapro exactly, but one day when we forgot her dose, she pulled a knife out of the kitchen drawer and was threatening someone with it. I can't remember if it was me or herself. The fact that forgetting one dose can cause this is very scary to me.
 
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bran155

Guest
My 7 yo son has a classmate who is no doubt a difficult child. They put him on Zoloft, I went nuts!!! I told them they were crazy to let the doctor prescribe that for such a young child. They don't bother doing research of any kind, they just go with what ever they are told. However, if you knew these people you would understand, they themselves are crazy!!! Not in a clinical sense, they are just very ignorant. They curse and yell at this poor kid all day long for the littlest thing!!! It drives me nuts. They call him: stupid a**, sh**head, f*****g a**hole and so on. Totally inappropriate stuff. He has a 1 yo sister who they refer to as the little b***h. It is insane. This boy has been diagnosis Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD),ADHD and ODD. He has been on Prozac and Zoloft. Don't you think they are inappropriate drugs for such a young child? I wouldn't even put my 17 yo on those!!!!
 

smallworld

Moderator
I think SSRIs like Prozac and Zoloft have a place in the treatment of anxiety and depression in children, especially if the disorder is affecting life function (as in the child is so anxious or depressed that he can't get to school). Equally important, however, is that parents be aware of the negative side effects and doctors take parents seriously when these negative side effects are reported.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I have been a supporter of Christopher for years. There is a huge billboard on hwy 26 not far from our home that begged for help.

He is the first child to get a conviction / sentence like him and be tried as an adult in SC. I wrote to his atty, when they asked for Letters about how Zoloft made you feel and told them for both myself and Dude it gave us weird thoughts. For us it was suicide.

The drug company in this case in my humble opinion would rather this child go to prison for the rest of his life THAN EVER admit there is a problem with SOME people on SSRI's. That's what it boils down to.

It's like our former treasurer Mr. Ravennel - doing coke, dealing coke, using coke.......he got basically a slap on the wrist. Because he is rich he got to go to a New Mexico rehab place where in 6 weeks he kicked a years old drug habit. He got 6 months in jail. So did his accomplice a black man that had long been a drug dealer.

If you or I did what Ravennel did - we'd been burried under the jail. I know the Ravennel's (some of them) they are nice folks but this cousin ONLY got off easy because of who he is. And how much $$ he has.

I fought against him getting off easy too - fell on deaf ears.


Thanks MWM - maybe some day the truth about this case will be heard and there will be an overturning of this case. He doesn't deserve to be in jail for the rest of his life - but what would you do with him and who would take care of him CERTAINLY NOT his Mother. (SHE should be in jail if you ask me for how she raised or rather didn't raise this child)

:(:mad:
 

threebabygirls

New Member
Just chiming in with susiestar's comment on Effexor. When I was 18-19, I was on it (I can't remember for how long) but it wasn't effective anymore. When I was instructed by my psychiatrist to stop taking it before starting something else, I literally could not get out of bed for 3 days, and didn't feel right for days after that. I was so dizzy and disoriented. To this day I am a little apprehensive when I'm weaned off a medication.
 
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