Stop the VIOLENCE!

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath What does the health of the individual have to do with the recent spree of shootings and violence? Almost everything in most cases… While everyone has their own personal opinion on gun control, or not, this is not the place to address this. What I want to address is the underlying health factors of those pulling the triggers or basically those that act out in a violent manner. The first area to address is antidepressants. Many credible scientific studies going back over the past 10 years and more, as well as internal documents from certain pharmaceutical companies show that SSRI drugs ( Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors ) have well known, but unreported side effects, including but not limited to suicide and other violent behavior. Here is an example of just some of the drugs that were used during some violent acts in our recent history.

• Zoloft
• Luvox
• Prozac
• Paxil
• Ritalin
• Effexor
• Celexa
• Lexapro
• Welbutrin
• Trazodone
• Clonazepam

Now let’s be fair though, there are other people taking these same drugs that are not committing violent acts. So it must be a combination of side effects of drugs and other factors.             Another significant factor is the function of the frontal lobe. This area of the brain is essential to carry out higher mental processes such as thinking, decision making, and planning. If the frontal lobe is suffering, so is thinking and decision making. Basically, if your frontal lobe is not functioning properly, you may understand what is right or wrong from a moral perspective, but still act out with an immoral activity. It has been well know for over a decade that “The studies reviewed support an association between frontal lobe dysfunction and increased aggressive and antisocial behaviour.” You can read the full paper here from The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. But let’s look even deeper. What is causing these neurodegenerative problems? First we would consider brain injury. Any trauma to the frontal lobe can leave an individual with problems regarding violence, decision making and lead to antisocial behavior. But not everyone with a frontal lobe issue has had a brain trauma of course. Which leads us to some of the bigger issues with brain degeneration in our culture today.

• Gluten sensitivity
• Gluten associated cross reactive sensitivity
• Poor peripheral circulation leading to a lack of oxygen and nutrient uptake in the brain
• Gut infections such as parasites, protozoa, detrimental bacteria and the list goes on
• Infections in the brain itself
• High sugar and/or simple carbohydrate diet (basically too much sugar and processed foods)
• High stress hormone response leading to poor neuronal connectivity (brain communication)
• Poor digestion leading to poor protein breakdown causing neurotransmitter imbalances (neurotransmitter are chemical messengers in the brain)
• Heavy metal toxicity
• High alcohol consumption

These challenges above and affect any one of us and leave us not only with a brain degeneration issue but also leaving us socially uncomfortable and impair our ability to process decision making properly. Throw on top of this some antidepressant use and you have a recipe for disaster. But there is one more factor that we cannot ignore and the is the thought of nature vs. nurture. Nature is tied into our heredity and genes, while nurture is our upbringing and our environment. Those with a troubled past, challenged environment and perhaps a violent upbringing will also play a role here. So put together poor health habits that lead to neurodegeneration, poor frontal lobe function, antidepressant use, questionable nurturing in life as well as genetics, this can be a problem waiting to happen. To what degree is the question…             If you have any comments or questions regarding this article please post this on our Facebook page or on our Twitter page for us to address personally. Contact Depke Wellness directly here. “The products on this page have not been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”