Correct. But I know IDK is genuinely curious and have appreciated interacting with him/her on other subjects, so I will provide some context and a link as well. AND I'll connect it to Lindsay Clancy's case since that's why we're all here.
This is a very controversial topic and I hope that Lindsay Clancy's attorneys don't go to court with this defense. It always does more harm than good in public perception, IMO, without cause. Where the lay public gets confused is that a person taking antidepressants can become activated, usually if they're on the bipolar spectrum. So for example, say that Lindsay had undiagnosed bipolar disorder (which is correlated with PPP). Part of bipolar is mania. So think of mania as the exact opposite of depressed. Ok, so say Lindsay's psychiatrist put her on an antidepressant, not realizing she's bipolar. It could cause Lindsay to become activated and switch from depression to mania. What are the symptoms of mania? In some cases, violence. In some cases, psychosis. So did the antidepressant cause the violence? I'd say no. The antidepressant did what it was supposed to do -- make her not depressed. But unfortunately, for someone with bipolar, they can't regulate their mood, so they go from one extreme to another. So the antidepressant would have exacerbated her illness and that's what caused the violence. This distinction is important because the drug is not causing the violence. Antidepressants don't cause homicidal ideation, IMO, based on the evidence we have (they can cause suicidal ideation in people under age 25, which has to do with the developing brain, but Lindsay is over age 25 anyway). The studies that say otherwise aren't taking the patient's baseline and/or co-morbidities into account.
One thing I will say is that there are some psych drugs that can cause irritability and in some cases, aggression. High doses of ADHD medications, one particular seizure medication, and meds in other drug categories can do this, but as far as I know, LC wasn't on any of these. Still, there are no legitimate studies I'm aware of that show they cause homicidal ideation in someone who lacks the co-morbidities or baseline risk discussed above. Irritability and aggression don't generally rise to homicidal ideation.
Here's a link from the peer-reviewed Psychiatric Times.
Neither time nor science has given pause to some attorneys who exploit the misunderstanding that surrounds the putative "criminogenic" effects of antidepressants.
www.psychiatrictimes.com
