Following on from Part I [Depression: Cases Number 1, 2 and 3] today sees a further 3 cases that fall outside of the NHS definition of depression. All subjects in these case histories were originally diagnosed with depression, however, I argue that their acts (whilst being treated for depression) do not fall under the umbrella of depressive symptoms.
So, what made cases 4, 5 and 6 carry out the following acts?
Case # 4
Leonard O. Parker Thursday was found guilty of all 10 counts in the bank robbery of two banks in January 2006, including the First Citizens Bank branch in the Peachtree section of Cherokee County.
Parker, who previously owned Mountain Max Auto Superstore on the Murphy Highway in Union County, was charged with bank robbery and kidnapping in connection with the January 11, 2006 robbery of the Peachtree bank and the January 6 robbery of the Mooresville Savings Bank in Cornelius, North Carolina. Parker resided in Morganton, GA at the time of the robberies.
A federal Grand Jury in Bryson City took only an hour and 15 minutes to find Parker guilty of all 10 counts against him. It will be two months or longer before Parker is sentenced, prosecutor Don Gast said. [1]
Question: How does someone who according to the NHS 'symptoms of depression checklist', takes part in fewer activities, have no motivation or interest in things, have continuous low moods and sadness, all of a sudden feel the urge to rob two banks and kidnap?
The article continues with...
Parker was found guilty of five charges for each of the two bank robberies. He was found guilty of bank robbery, assaulting a teller in a bank robbery, taking a teller in a bank robbery (kidnapping), use of a firearm during a bank robbery and possession of a firearm while being a convicted felon. Both robberies were similar, in that Parker used a pistol and forced tellers to drive him away from the bank to his getaway vehicle.
I'll ask again, where does it stipulate in the NHS 'symptoms of depression checklist' that symptoms of depression include robbing banks, kidnapping, assaulting people and threatening to use a gun?
What also came out at trial was...
Parker testified that he went on buying sprees including getting up at 3 a.m. to go to Wal Mart.
Photos of Parker in the bank show him smiling and cutting up with the tellers.
Parker's former wife testified that Parker called her up and asked her to go gambling with him and he didn't act different than normal, even though he had just robbed two banks.
Parker testified that he quit taking Paxil [Seroxat] at the end of December, 2005, shortly before the bank robberies.
So, what caused this bizarre behaviour? Did Parker carry out these bizarre acts because he was in debt, if so, why was he prescribed an antidepressant like Paxil - is debt a mental illness?
If he stopped taking his Paxil then maybe one could argue that his depression had returned, however, as I've said, behaviour like the above is not a symptom of depression.
Could it be that Parker was suffering severe Paxil withdrawal which made him delusional, fearless, irrational?
It's worth looking into, don't you think?
Case # 5
A Parma man is facing charges after he impersonated a police officer, and is caught by a real police officer he tried to pull over.
Micahel Gustafson, 50, faces a five-count grand jury indictment stemming from the Dec. 17 incident.
According to police, Gustafson put a blinking blue police light on his dashboard at around 2:30 a.m. He then shined a high-beam flashlight at a woman in a car at the intersection of East 110th Street and St. Clair, in Cleveland.
Gustafson reportedly told the woman he was a police officer, and that he stopped her for driving erratically.
However, the woman turned out to be a Cleveland police detective, and she quickly called for backup.
Police found Gustafson was carrying a gun and had a stolen police radio in his car. A search of his home also revealed more police and law enforcement paraphernalia.
Gustafson faces five counts, including impersonating a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon. [2]All seems like Gustafson was a slightly wacky character. However, it later emerged, in another article [3], that Gustafson was "put in jail for three days, without access to his medication for depression."
So, Gustafson was depressed at the time of his actions. Impersonation and theft are not mentioned in the NHS 'symptoms of depression checklist', so why did he exhibit this bizarre behaviour. Did his behaviour merit what the NHS state about depressive symptoms, namely; takes part in fewer activities, have no motivation or interest in things, have continuous low moods and sadness?
If this bizarre behaviour was not depression then what could have caused it, his medication for depression perhaps?
Case # 6
Mark Douglas-Hamilton, 30, used a pair of wire cutters to hold up a garage in Oxford where he walked away with a packet of cigarettes. A CCTV recording of the event shows his bizarre behaviour, where he joked with customers. Two weeks later, the theatre stage manager stole some CDs from a record shop.
Douglas-Hamilton, who lives near Hereford, was due to face trial in Oxford on two charges of theft. But the case was unexpectedly dropped by the CPS, which did not give a reason for the discontinuance .
This story intrigues me as I have covered it before on this blog after being contacted by Mark via Twitter.
Douglas-Hamilton told me in a private conversation that his medical records seem to have gone missing and he cannot get access to any of the evidence provided in court. His defence lawyer is, according to Douglas-Hamilton, not returning his calls.
He was diagnosed as having anxiety and depression, neither of which claim holding up garages is a symptom.
An expert witness, Dr David Taylor, then working as head of pharmacology at the British psychiatric hospital, Maudsley, had prepared a report for the defence, passed to the CPS, which concluded that the effects of Seroxat could have contributed to his behaviour.
Upon seeing this, it is alleged by Douglas-Hamilton, Crown Prosecution decided to throw the case out.
Furthermore, Douglas-Hamilton is alleging that lawyers for GlaxoSmithKline approached his defence lawyer who was told to keep his client quiet.
Why did the Crown Prosecution pull the case, up until the point of Dr David Taylor's evidence they must have thought they had a good case, right? CCTV footage, witnesses, they had Douglas-Hamilton bang to rights, as they say. Why was Dr Taylor's evidence deemed so detrimental to the Crown's case, more importantly what was that evidence and why has Douglas-Hamilton never been allowed access to it?
Did GlaxoSmithKline's lawyers really tell Douglas-Hamilton's defence lawyer to tell his client to keep quiet?
Why did the Crown Prosecution offer no explanation as to why they dropped all charges?
Douglas-Hamilton was due to plead not guilty using non-insane automatism as his defence. The defence of non-insane automatism exists where a person commits a crime in circumstances where their actions can be said to be involuntary. A finding of non-insane automatism may also exist where the defendant is not conscious of their actions due to an external factor often as a result of medication.
A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline said, at the time: "Violence and aggression are a feature of anxiety and depression disorders. Seroxat will reduce levels of these, and neither violence or aggression are withdrawal symptoms."
She has to be kidding, right?
A survey carried out by the mental health charity MIND, in collaboration with bbc TV's Panorama, found that 97% of respondents knew of someone who had experienced unwanted or uncomfortable reactions to Seroxat [Paxil]. These included: reduced sexual desire, sleep problems, fatigue, irritability and sweating. One in five reported violent behaviour. Half who had experienced a reaction had feelings of self harm or suicide and more than four out of five experienced withdrawal problems. [4]
Given that the above cases cannot be explained away by 'depression' it could be safe to assume, one would think, that the medication caused the out of character and bizarre behaviour... unless there's any psychiatrists out there who would like to explain the reasons for me?
Bob Fiddaman
Previous Case Files - Depression: Cases Number 1, 2 and 3
[1] Parker guilty on all counts
[2] Man Impersonates Cop, Pulls Over Real Officer
[3] Alleged Cop Impersonator Says He Wanted To Stop Erratic Driver
[4] Dark secrets lurking in the drugs cabinet
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