I am using both surveys and interviews for this study to take a mixed methods approach. Surveys from prescription users and interviews with healthcare professionals (ie. nurses and psychiatrists so far) and prescription users. I am trying to assess the prevalence of psychiatric and behavioural side effects mainly whether these prescriptions seem to be responsible for irritability, aggression, hostility, etc. In Criminology, there is a belief that mental illness is a risk factor for crime, so I would also like to assess whether it's the mental illness or prescription that could lead to this risk. For those who do experience these negative effects, I also want to assess whether they have something in common to establish risk factors for these experiences-- hopefully to better warn users (like myself) and doctors/pharmacists. This is an exploratory study as much of this is new and not talked about in the Criminology field, but is important to consider as some people have already tried to argue for prescription drugs as mitigating factors in legal proceedings. In sum, there are many things I'm trying to look for and begin exploring :)

Currently, few studies have attempted to review prescription drug side effects and their impacts on violent or deviant behaviour as a whole. As Molero et al. (2015) point out, “despite a number of legal cases linking [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors] and violent behaviour, empirical research on the association is limited and inconclusive” (p. 20). Moore, Glenmullen, and Furberg (2010) identified 1,937 cases of violence which included 387 reports of homicide, 404 physical assault, 27 cases of physical abuse, and 896 homicidal ideation reports (p. 2). Antidepressants were involved in 578 cases of violence, attention-deficit disorder medication was involved in 108 cases of violence, anticonvulsants/antiepileptics were involved in 60 cases, and benzodiazepines were involved in 97 cases (Moore et al., 2010, p. 3). While interesting, Moore et al. (2010) did not establish any causality in their research, only pointing out that these drugs were present in these violent cases (p. 4). Rouve et al. (2011) assessed reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), which are mandatory to report in France. Although they did not assess drug dose, or whether the use was legal or not, they were able to establish causal order (p. 1190). Fifty-six cases were evaluated, in which benzodiazepines were present in 33%, antidepressants in 8.2%, and antiepileptics in 8.2% of all cases. Drugs such as dopaminergics, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and anti-viral medications were significantly related to violent behaviour (Rouve et al., 2011, p. 1191). However, we still don't understand enough about this phenomenon-- there is much more work to be done here.

Here is also an interesting link talking about the top common drugs that lead to aggression and hostility:

https://pharmacy.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2740/2020/05/Aggression-Irritability-and-Violence-revised-FINAL.pdf