WIL Weekly #52

Antidepressants linked to aggression, pessimism is for losers and more...

This is my free weekly newsletter covering 5 interesting points from the week. Subscribe (if you haven’t already) if you’d like to get it in your inbox each week!

1. Can antidepressants paradoxically cause violence and suicidal thoughts?

I came across a Swedish July 2020 study that found that in individuals aged 15-60 years old taking SSRI’s (antidepressant medication), “there may be an increased risk of violent crime during SSRI treatment in a small group of individuals.” While investigating this idea, I came across Dr. Roger McFillin’s article titled Can Antidepressants Induce Suicide, Violence & Bizarre Behavior? where he lists 7 points of concern with antidepressants:

(1) The USDA issued a Black Box warning in October 2004 that antidepressants may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.
(2) A 2016 review of over 70 trials found an increase in self-harm and aggression in children and adolescents taking SSRIs.
(3) CNN reported in 2005 that Eli Lilly and Co. had more than 15 years of data showing that patients on Prozac were far more likely to become hostile and attempt suicide.
(4) A 2012 study found that fluoxetine dramatically increases aggression in hamsters.
(5) In June 2001, a Wyoming jury awarded $8 million to the relatives of a peaceful family man and doting grandfather who murdered his family after taking an antidepressant prescribed for anxiety.
(6) He presents 7 other examples of people who became violent after taking antidepressenats. He also shares a 2011 paper that discusses 8 people who became extremely violent while on antidepressants.
(7) He lists 16 different warnings from the United States’ FDA, the Italian Medicines Agency, The Japanese Ministry of Health, The Commission of the European Communities and others warning of antidepressants inducing suicidal thoughts, homicidal ideation, sudden acts of violence, paranoia and other mental disorders.

Can Antidepressants Induce Suicide, Violence & Bizarre Behavior?

I recommend checking out the article for the details on each of these bullet points.

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2. Pessimists are losers.

September 2024 study: Is it better to be happy or right? Examining the relative role of the pragmatic and epistemic imperatives in momentary affective evaluations.

Is it hard for you to bear the weight of being right all the time? Your superior intellect allows you to swiftly conduct a thorough analysis that reveals that things are going to shit. Sorry, that’s just how it is. You’re not the type to naively sugar-coat reality and get your hopes up. You’ve ran the math and the probability that things are going to suck is at least 83%. When things turn out shitty, you think to yourself ‘I knew it,’ giving yourself even more confidence in your superior powers of logic and reason.

Good job, you’re a loser.

A study from just this month found that “people feel significantly worse when their pessimistic expectations are confirmed than when their optimistic expectations are violated.” That is, being a correct pessimist is less satisfying than being a wrong optimist.

Psychologist Adam Grant says that what we should do is plan for the worst, but hope for the best.

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3. Don’t stretch between sets

Chris Beardsley compiled this image showing multiple studies that suggest that stretching the working muscle between strength training sets reduces the number of reps you can do.

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4. A single session of exercise can improve your metabolic health

October 2016 paper Exercise-stimulated glucose uptake — regulation and implications for glycaemic control

This is an interesting paper on how muscle extracts glucose from the blood in order to provide energy during exercise. Glucose uptake by skeletal muscle can increase by up to 50-fold during bouts of exercise, depending on the intensity and duration. Further, in case you needed yet another reason to exercise: a single session of exercise can improve blood sugar (insulin sensitivity) for 48 hours. Further, they say that “exercise … can restore glucose metabolism in insulin resistant muscle,” which highlights the massive importance of exercise for diabetics. The marketing angle of ‘exercise burns calories’ is weak compared to the point that exercise can directly reverse some of the negative physiological changes induced by diabetes.

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5. Big Brother cometh

In Scotland, the maximum sentence for misgendering someone is apparently 7 years in jail. Interesting video by John Stossel.

More specifically, according to Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 (legislation.gov.uk), an offense is categorized as “aggravated by prejudice” if the offender “demonstrates malice and ill-will” towards someone or if the malice and ill will is based on the victim’s membership of a group. What characteristics may be the defining factor of such a group?

The characteristics are—
(a)age,
(b)disability,
(c)race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins,
(d)religion or, in the case of a social or cultural group, perceived religious affiliation,(e)sexual orientation,
(f)transgender identity,
(g)variations in sex characteristics.

Who decides ill-will or malice? If someone called me a ‘35-year-old cisgendered heterosexual meat-eating American caucasian loser’ in Scotland while I was suffering from marijuana-induced paranoia, would my accusation of ill-will lead to that person’s jail time?

If you’re under the impression that this would never take effect to a meaningful degree, note that many people in the UK have been prosecuted for social media posts, like this 53-year-old from Cheshire who created an ‘illegal’ facebook post.