he very beginning that the most damaging thing that could be done to the serotonin system would be to impair one's ability to metabolize serotonin. Yet that is exactly how SSRI antidepressants exert their effects.

For decades research has shown that impairing serotonin metabolism will produce migraines, hot flashes, pains around the heart, difficulty breathing, a worsening of bronchial complaints, tension and anxiety which appear from out of nowhere, depression, suicide - especially very violent suicide, hostility, violent crime, arson, substance abuse, psychosis, mania, organic brain disease, autism, anorexia, reckless driving, Alzheimer's, impulsive behavior with no concern for punishment, and argumentative behavior.

How anyone ever thought it would be "therapeutic" to chemically induce these reactions is beyond me. Yet, these reactions are exactly what we have witnessed in our society over the past decade and a half as a result of the widespread use of these drugs.

In fact we even have a whole new vocabulary as a result with terms such as "road rage," "suicide by cop," "murder/suicide," "going postal," "false memory syndrome," "school shooting," "bi-polar" - every third person you meet anymore - along with the skyrocketing rates of antidepressant-induced diabetes and hypoglycemia.

Can you remember two decades ago when depressed people used to slip away quietly to kill themselves rather than killing everyone around them and then themselves as they do while taking SSRI antidepressants?

A study out of the University of Southern California in 1996 looked at a group of mutant mice in an experiment that had gone terribly wrong. These genetically engineered mice were the most violent creatures they had ever witnessed. They were born lacking the MAO-A enzyme which metabolizes serotonin. As a result their brains were awash in serotonin. This excess serotonin is what the researchers determined was the cause for this extreme violence. Antidepressants produce the same end result as they inhibit the metabolism of serotonin.

These are extremely dangerous drugs that should be banned as similar drugs have been banned in the past.

As a society we once thought LSD and PCP to be miracle medications with large margins of safety in humans. We have never seen drugs so similar to LSD and PCP as these SSRI antidepressants. All of these drugs produce dreaming during periods of wakefulness. It is believed that the high serotonin levels over stimulate the brain stem leading to a lack of muscle paralysis during sleep thus allowing the patient to act out the dreams or nightmares they are having. The world witnessed that clearly in the Zoloft-induced murder-suicide of comedian Phil Hartman and his wife, Brynn.

Connecticut witnessed the Prozac-induced case of Kelly Silk several years ago. This young mother attacked her family with a knife, then set the house on fire killing all but her 8 year old daughter who ran to the neighbors. As she stood bleeding and screaming for help she explained, "Help! My mommy is having a nightmare!"

Out of the mouths of babes we will understand these nightmares for what they are. She understood that this was something her mother would do ONLY in a nightmare, never in reality.

This is known as a REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. In the past it was known mainly as a drug withdrawal state, but the largest sleep facility in the country has reported that 86% of the cases they are diagnosing are patients on antidepressants.

Because this was known in the past as a condition manifesting mainly in drug withdrawal you should see how dangerous the withdrawal state from these drugs will prove to be. That is why it is so critical to make sure patients are weaned EXTREMELY slowly so as to avoid ANY chance of going into a withdrawal state

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Dr. Ann Blake Tracy's December 13, 2006 to the FDA

Ann Blake-Tracy, PhD, head of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness, author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? & Our Serotonin Nightmare. For 15 years I have testified in court cases involving antidepressants. The last 17 years of my life have been devoted to researching, writing, and lecturing about these drugs.

Two of my nieces in their early 20's, a decade apart, attempted suicide on antidepressants, the first on Prozac, the second just a month ago on Wellbutrin.

Due to time constraints I refer you to my September, 2004 testimony on the damaging effects of inhibiting serotonin metabolism - the very mode of action of antidepressants. Impairing serotonin metabolism results in a multitude of symptoms including suicide, violent crime, mania and psychosis. Suicidal ideation is, without question, associated with these drugs.

Rosie Meysenburg, Sara Bostock and I have collected and posted 1200 news articles documenting many exaggerated acts of violence against self or others at www.drugawareness.org with a direct link to www.ssristories.com

Beyond suicidal ideation we have mania/bipolar increasing dramatically. Antidepressants have always been known to trigger both.

According to the Pharmaceutical Business Review in the last 11 years alone, the number of people in the U.S. with "bipolar" disorder has increased by 4.8 million.

Dr. Malcolm Bowers of Yale, found in the late 90's over 200,000 people yearly are hospitalized with antidepressant-induced manic psychosis. They also point out that most go unrecognized as medication-induced, remain un hospitalized, and a threat to themselves and others.

What types of threats from manias?

Pyromania: A compulsion to start fires

Kleptomania: A compulsion to embezzle, shoplift, commit robberies

Dipsomania: An uncontrollable urge to drink alcohol

Nymphomania and erotomania: Sexual compulsions - a pathologic preoccupation with sexual fantasies or activities

Child sex abuse has increased dramatically with even female teachers going manic on these drugs and seducing students. The head of the sex abuse treatment program for Utah estimated 80% of sex crime perpetrators were on antidepressants at the time of the crime. While Karl Von Kleist, an ex-LAPD officer and leading polygraph expert estimated 90% - strong evidence of manic sexual compulsions that demand attention.

Diabetes has skyrocketed, has been linked to antidepressants, and blood sugar imbalances have long been suspected as the cause of mania or bipolar. Anyone who has witnessed someone in insulin shock would see the striking similarity to a violent reaction to an antidepressant.

If there has been any increase in suicide since the black box warning it is due to doctors not knowing how to get patients off these drugs safely.

Clearly, far too many lives are being destroyed in various ways by these drugs.

?Dr. Ann Blake-Tracy, holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences with the emphasis on Psychology, and serves as the executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness. She has specialized for 17 years in adverse reactions to serotonergic medications (such as Prozac, Sarafem, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Serzone, Remeron, Anafranil, Fen-Phen, Redux and Meridia as well as the new atypical antipsychotics Zyprexa, Geodon, Seroquel and Abilify), as well as pain killers, and has testified before the FDA and congressional subcommittee members on antidepressants. Since 1992 she has testified as an expert witness in Prozac and other SSRI related court cases around the world. Some of the more high profile cases she has worked on would be the murder/suicide of comedian Phil Hartman and his wife Brynn, the Columbine & Red Lake School shootings, Andrea Yates - the Texas mother who drowned her five children, the Atlanta Day Trader, Princess Di's death, the murder/ suicide of the royal family of Nepal, etc.

Dr. Blake-Tracy will amaze you with documentation as to how often these drugs have lurked silently behind the scenes of major headlines worldwide!! To get an idea of how often and the types of reactions we are seeing in the news go to www.drugawareness.org and click on the database of 1000's of articles on patients on these drugs and the adverse results appearing as headlines.

Her first book on the issue was published in 1991. What scientists are just now learning about these drugs she spelled out in this book and other early writings. She has participated in innumerable radio, television, newspaper and magazine interviews since 1989. We know of no one with such extensive experience and expertise on all of these issues surrounding the SSRI antidepressants as Dr. Ann Blake-Tracy. She knows this issue like no one you have ever met! Her latest book on the Prozac family of antidepressants: PROZAC: PANACEA OR PANDORA?-Our Serotonin Nightmare (2001) is the product of many, many years of intensive research, and the cases of approximately 1,000 patients on a long-term basis. Dr. Tracy also has an hour and a half long audio tape/CD, "Help! I Can't Get Off My Antidepressant!," which explains the safest withdrawal methods from these antidepressants and how to rebuild the body and brain after the use of these drugs - the product of many years working with patients in withdrawal from antidepressants.

Dr. Tracy has appeared on or consulted for television presentations for FOX News, the History Channel, CNN, PBS programs, Dateline and 20/20, the Geraldo Show, the Leeza Gibbons Show, the Montel Williams Show, the Maury Povich Show. She has also appeared on national radio shows such as NPR, Coast to Coast, the Jeff Rense Show, and the Alex Jones Show.

Dr. Tracy has also appeared in two recent major film documentaries released the end of 2005, The Drugging of Our Children, by award- winning documentary filmmaker Gary Null, which contains interviews with Michael Moore and Neil Bush agreeing on the subject of the horrors of giving our children drugs as a supposed solution to life's problems; (This movie is available in its entirety at www.drugawareness.org) and Prescription Suicide, a look into the lives of families who experienced the tragedy of antidepressants, produced by five-time Emmy Award winning Hollywood producer Robert Manciero.