CCHR: Psychiatric Drugs Fuel Rising Death Toll: National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day Confronts America's Medication Crisis
PrAtlas/22797183

LOS ANGELES - PrAtlas -- By CCHR International

On March 24, National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day spotlighted a major preventable public health crisis: adverse drug events (ADEs)—injuries, side effects, and errors caused by medication use, including psychiatric drugs—are now estimated to cause more than 250,000 deaths each year in the United States. This would make ADEs the third leading cause of death in the country, ahead of stroke and respiratory disease. However, these deaths are not shown as a single category in the official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rankings, largely because ADEs are not coded as one unified cause. Established in 2021 by the American Society of Pharmacovigilance (ASP), the awareness day aims to highlight this issue and calls for urgent national action to prevent it.[1] For more than five decades, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) has maintained a public awareness campaign about psychotropic drug risks.

In 2013, CCHR launched a Psychiatric Drugs Side Effects online database to help consumers and families access information about adverse reactions and withdrawal effects. The organization also regularly files Freedom of Information Act requests for state-level psychiatric prescription data under Medicaid.

CCHR has purchased IQVia Total Patient Tracker data for accurate consumption reporting and continues to campaign for stronger FDA Medication Guides (MedGuides) — fact sheets that provide essential safety information in plain language, listing the most serious side effects. Pharmacists are currently required to distribute these when dispensing certain prescriptions, but CCHR is calling for this requirement to be expanded to prescribing doctors, with patients required to sign an acknowledgment of receipt.

A 2021 study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence revealed that deaths in which psychotropic drugs played a contributing — but not underlying — role have risen dramatically. Analyzing U.S. mortality data from 1999 to 2019, researchers identified 51,446 psychotropic-drug-implicated deaths, divided into medical deaths (33,885) from natural causes where the drugs contributed as a factor, and external deaths (17,561) from accidents or injuries often linked to impairment.[2]

The annual rate of medical psychotropic-drug-implicated deaths increased 2.5-fold (from 0.31 to 0.78 per 100,000), while external deaths rose fivefold (from 0.12 to 0.58 per 100,000). Increases include psychostimulants and benzodiazepines, which often receive less attention than opioids.

The FDA's MedWatch system encourages reporting of adverse events, which can lead to labeling changes, Black Box Warnings, or other protections. However, a 2006 systematic review found that as many as 94% of adverse drug reactions go unreported, and more recent research continues to identify underreporting as a major limitation of these systems, delaying the identification of safety signals and accurate risk assessment.[3]

Compounding the crisis, national mortality data highlight the dangers of specific drug classes often used in combination. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show that benzodiazepine-involved overdose deaths increased approximately 7.6-fold from 1999 to 2024. Researchers from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the University of British Columbia noted there were also 50% more deaths annually from psychiatric drugs than from heroin.[4]

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The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reported drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants steadily rose from 1,749 in 1999 to 5,863 in 2022 and remained steady in 2023 with 5,783 deaths.[5] In the UK, a review of nearly 8,000 coroners' inquests in which antidepressants were mentioned found 2,718 deaths by hanging, 933 involving overdose, and 979 suicides, concluding that antidepressants are "ineffective for many people."

IQVia 2020 data reveals that 76,940,157 Americans were taking prescription psychotropic drugs, including 6.1 million aged 0–17, of whom 418,425 were aged five or younger.

Antidepressants were used by 45,204,771 people of all ages, including 2,154,118 aged 0–17 and 35,216 aged 0–5. Side effects include suicidality, aggression, psychosis, cardiac arrhythmias, a potentially life-threatening serotonin syndrome, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting.[6] Withdrawal affects approximately 56% of users and is often mistaken for relapse.[7] Symptoms can include "brain zaps," cognitive impairment, anxiety, irritability, emotional blunting, and akathisia — a severe restlessness linked to potential violence.[8]

Antipsychotics were prescribed to 11,154,803 people of all ages, including 829,372 aged 0–17 and 30,632 aged 0–5. These drugs have serious and often irreversible risks, including diabetes, cardiovascular complications, hormonal and sexual dysfunction, agitation, aggression, emotional instability, social withdrawal, suicidal ideation, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (which can also occur during withdrawal). Severe long-term effects include tardive dyskinesia (TD), an involuntary movement disorder affecting 20–50% of long-term users, and tardive psychosis.[9] Withdrawal effects include: nausea, tremors, anxiety, agitation, irritability, aggression, sleep disturbances, and decreased concentration.[10]

ADHD/Stimulant Drugs were used by 9,585,203 people of all ages, including 3,155,441 aged 0–17 and 58,091 aged 0–5. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) has a mode of action similar to amphetamine and cocaine. Side effects include addiction, new-onset manic symptoms, hallucinations, delusional thinking, aggression, hostility, suicidal thoughts, behavioral dysregulation, and potential for misuse, abuse, and dependence.[11] Homicidal ideation has been reported with atomoxetine (Strattera), and 2025 safety updates.[12] Withdrawal effects include depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, agitation, psychomotor slowing, vivid dreams, and increased suicide risk.[13]

Anti-anxiety Drugs (including Sedatives and Benzodiazepines) were taken by 31,229,150 people of all ages, including 1,153,351 aged 0–17 and 233,125 aged 0–5. Benzodiazepines should not be taken for more than four weeks due to the risk of rapid dependence.[14] They are associated with serious neurological and behavioral side effects, including memory impairment, confusion and disorientation, disinhibition, and suicidal ideation. Paradoxical reactions — agitation, hostility, aggression, or hallucinations — may occur.[15] Withdrawal can begin after as little as 3–6 weeks and includes intense perceptual disturbances, depersonalization, paranoia, irritability, and aggression. Symptoms can last for years.[16]

CCHR, a non-profit mental health industry watchdog, demands immediate reforms to protect vulnerable populations, especially children and veterans, from preventable harm. Lives depend on moving from psychotropic pills to genuine prevention and safer mental health care. Established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry Thomas Szasz, CCHR is dedicated to exposing psychiatric abuse and protecting patient rights.

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Sources:

[1] https://stopadr.org/blog/predicting-adverse-drug-event-prevalence-a-data-driven-approach; https://www.stopadr.org/blog/asp-establishes-march-24-as-national-adverse-drug-event-awareness-day-launches-awareness-campaign

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8355085/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16689555/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37277678/

[4] CDC WONDER Multiple Cause of Death database (1999, 2024), queried by year using ICD-10 code T42.4 (Benzodiazepines) and restricted to overdose deaths (X40–X44, X60–X64, Y10–Y14), https://wonder.cdc.gov/

[5] NIDA, "Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures," "U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Antidepressants, 1999-2023," https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates#Fig10

[6] https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/publication/antidepressant-induced-emotional-blunting-diagnosis-mechanisms-and-management-2/

[7] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460318308347

[8] https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-truth-about-ssri-antidepressants?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=748806&post_id=184750716&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=18l5a7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5472076/

[10] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853222000165?via%3Dihub

[11] "Methylphenidate (A Background Paper)," U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Oct. 1995

[12] Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, "Product Information safety updates – April 2025," 22 May 2025, "Atomoxetine: New warnings about serotonin syndrome and homicidal thoughts," Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, 7 Feb. 2025

[13] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R), (American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C., 1987), p. 136

[14] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-66589042

[15] https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2016/017794s044lbl.pdf; https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262809#side-effects; https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychiatric-bulletin/article/benzodiazepines-and-disinhibition-a-review/421AF197362B55EDF004700452BF3BC6

[16] http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha03.htm; https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/benzo-withdrawal