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| 22 Year Old Shane Clancy |
Three striking articles to report on today, two from the Irish Examiner and one from the pen of SSRi withdrawal expert Prof. David Healy.
Each discusses the case of Shane Clancy, a young man from Ireland who, after digesting a large amount of Celexa, killed a young man before stabbing himself in the chest 19 times, resulting in his death.
At first glance the Clancy case seems open and shut. Young man breaks up with girlfriend, realises his mistake, tries to reconcile relationship, learns his former girlfriend is seeing someone else, kills 'someone else' in fit of rage.
You'd be hard put to find any kind of supporting evidence for the Clancy family... unless you knew about the way SSRi's such as Celexa work on young minds.
Delving deep into the history of Shane Clancy and you will learn that he was just your normal run of the mill young man. At 22 he was furthering his education at Dublin college, after his relationship breakdown he travelled to the far-east and Australia but returned early to try and reconcile.
Seemingly feeling the effects of a broken heart Shane was prescribed Celexa, [known as Cipramil in Europe] manufactured by Lundbeck [Forest Pharmaceuticals in the US]. Around three weeks later Shane was dead as was another young man, Sebastian Creane.
I found it difficult to write about this case when news first broke. I toyed with the idea that I would be upsetting the family of the victim. It was after some soul-searching that I realised that both young men were the victim and any one who doubts that need to see how Celexa use has been tied in with many suicidal acts in children and young adults.
The same story comes out almost every time...'just your average teen with no prior thoughts of suicide...'
It's safe to say that I may show a bias in my reporting of the Clancy case. I've met both Tony and Leonie [Shane's parents] and, as timing would have it, am meeting them again next month.
Ironically, it's almost 12 months ago that I interviewed Leonie Fennell in a special podcast for this blog, an interview that is hard hitting and one that I found difficult to play back and listen to once completed. The interview is below and lasts for about an hour.
There are those who sit on the side of the fence and say that parents will always try to blame anyone but their children for acts of homicide, these same people will also blame anything else but the medication the child was on. It's hard to argue against their stance until you see other cases of suicide on these drugs. One such case would be that of Matthew Steubing, an American teenager who, after being prescribed a course of antidepressants [Lexapro] jumped from a bridge and killed himself. He was just 18. Lexapro is the sister drug to Celexa and was heavily promoted to be safe and effective in the treatment of depression. Despite it not being recommended for children and adolescents, healthcare professionals were still allowed to prescribe it.
Just like many of the SSRi drugs out there today are not meant for this age group, they are still being prescribed. The pharmaceutical companies, who have studied the use of these drugs in children, don't speak out against doctor's prescribing them because it makes them lots of money. The regulator's sit and shrug their shoulders and claim that they have sent out warnings to healthcare professionals - that one simple act clears their conscience that they are doing the right thing and protecting this vulnerable population. It;'s akin to giving a small child a box of matches with a warning that they will harm if used incorrectly.
Shane Clancy should never have been prescribed Celexa. His prescribing doctor weighed up the benefits versus the risks. The benefits are what he/she would have been told by the travelling salesman [Lundbeck rep] and what published studies he/she may have read about Celexa in adolescent use, studies written by Lundbeck and Forest's handpicked key opinion leaders...any of the negative studies about Celexa would not have been made public, assuming that there were negative studies.
Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money, they are not in the business to make you and I feel better - that would be corporate suicide. They want you to take their drugs for a lifetime and if you don't have any illness that fits then they just simply invent one or two disorders by proxy [DSM].
It's a licence to print money.
It's a licence to kill.
Here's the interview I did with Shane's mom last year.
Related Links
Professional suicide – the Clancy case - David Healy
Shane Clancy Blog
Irish Examiner
‘Too many’ suicides linked to depression tablets
Anti-depressant drugs - Investigate claimed link to suicides
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