Help End Medication-Induced Suicide and Homicide

What is Akathisia?

Akathisia is a dangerous medication side effect that causes severe agitation, an inability to remain still, and an overwhelming sense of terror. It is so excruciating that it can make anyone instantly suicidal or homicidal and so horrific that it was used by the Soviet Union in the Gulag to torture prisoners. Yet, the majority of doctors today have never heard of it, and most who have do not understand how deadly it is.

Akathisia and Suicide

Akathisia was linked to suicide in 1983. In one reported case, a patient developed akathisia and then killed himself by jumping off a building. In another, a man with akathisia killed himself by jumping in front of a train. There are only a handful of other PUBLISHED cases, likely because it is “generally misdiagnosed.” At least 53 members of one small akathisia support group have died by suicide since 2018.*

Akathisia and Homicide

A case that linked akathisia to homicide was published in 1978 and involved a man who was given Haldol, then became agitated and attempted to kill his dog. Another case was published in 1985 in which a patient received the same medication, then escaped from the hospital, beat an elderly woman “to a pulp” before stabbing her to death, and then stabbed two more. In 2011, ten cases of homicide due to antidepressant-induced akathisia were reported. They included a woman who got akathisia and killed her daughter, a man who killed his father, and another who killed his wife. And yet today, 44 years after the first homicide was reported, akathisia is still “generally misdiagnosed.”*

Akathisia is not rare; it is rarely recognized. Right now, all over the world, thousands of people in support groups are struggling to survive akathisia, and there are likely thousands more suffering alone. Others with akathisia are being restrained and force-drugged with the very medication that caused it – a method used by the Soviet Union to torture prisoners. Countless lives have been lost to akathisia over many decades and many more will be lost each day that we don’t do something about it.

Who are we?

The Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research nonprofit organization was formed by people who met in an online support group. Since March of 2021, we have lost at least 10 friends to suicide, including Marly, Mark, Lisa, Mona, Kathleen, and Karen. These people did not end their lives because they were depressed – they simply could not bear the torture any longer.

Why donate to the Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research nonprofit organization?

A major roadblock to advancing akathisia education and research has been the fact that it is virtually impossible to understand unless you’ve experienced it. For this reason, the Akathisia Alliance was formed by people who have. Our members include doctors, researchers, nurses, psychologists, biochemists, university professors, teachers, business owners, attorneys, and other professionals who have survived akathisia as well as devastating personal losses due, in part, to being misdiagnosed.

We have pored over medical journals, some of us for many years, and have learned vital information about akathisia that could help save many lives. With countless lost already and many more at stake, we don’t want to wait until educators and researchers who haven’t had akathisia understand it when we have so many well-qualified people who already do. Unfortunately, our organization does not have the resources required for these invaluable people to focus only on solving the problem of akathisia. Please consider the following details about our work before deciding whether or not you would like to support this cause.

Our Impact

The following comments about the Akathisia Alliance were posted on social media:

"The Akathisia Alliance is doing an incredible job. Saving lives. Worth remembering that these are volunteers, unpaid. Respect."

"If it weren’t for the Akathisia Alliance, I would either still be locked up somewhere and tortured with medications, or I would no longer be alive, and my family would be devastated."

"Your work is saving lives. Because of you, I am still alive, too. I get tears in my eyes thinking about it."

"If it was not in part for the Akathisia Alliance, I would not even be here."

"Live-saving, charitable work. Inestimable. Incalculable. Cannot be overstated, even in the most maximal, hyperbolic language.”

"The Akathisia Alliance has been a life-saver for me. I had no idea what was wrong with me until I stumbled onto their site."

"Where would we be without the Akathisia Alliance and this life-saving, charitable work?"

"For support with this torturous condition, we are thankful to the Akathisia Alliance for doing what doctors should have done decades ago."

"Look at the body of work done by people who are not doctors. Look at the Akathisia Alliance, Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Surviving Antidepressants, and Life After CT. How many lives have they saved, just those four?"

"Respect should be afforded to the Akathisia Alliance for doing the job of Psychiatry to reduce misdiagnoses and save lives."

"As a psych RN, I have found published research lags well behind the work done by the Akathisia Alliance and others."

Our Work

Patient Care Information Cards

We’ve created personalized medical alert wallet cards for people with akathisia to carry with them. Their purpose is to inform medical professionals about the condition and to help prevent patients from being mistreated and/or forced to take a medication known to cause or worsen akathisia.

"The akathisia alliance card may have saved my life. I highly recommend getting a card to carry with you at all times."

"Before I showed them the card, they wanted to give me Haldol. After I showed them the card, I was able to choose what I wanted to take."

Comprehensive Guides to Akathisia

We’ve written and distributed a Comprehensive Guide to Akathisia for clinicians and another for family, friends, and caregivers of those suffering with it (see enclosed).

Educational Videos and Social Media

We’ve produced many videos and post often on Facebook and Twitter to help educate both medical professionals and the general public in all aspects of akathisia, including the harm currently being caused by misdiagnosis.

Patient Registry

Over 300 people who’ve experienced akathisia have registered with us, most of whom are willing to participate in research studies that do not include drug trials. We would gladly provide data and/or patient subjects for outside research that is not funded by a pharmaceutical company.

Will you help end akathisia?

Right now, all over the world, people with unrecognized akathisia are being restrained and force-drugged with the very medication that caused it – a method used by the Soviet Union to torture prisoners. Others who were already on the brink of suicide due to akathisia have also lost everything and everyone they had to live for because they could not get a doctor to diagnose it. For some, years of mistreatment due to misdiagnosis has significantly compounded their akathisia-induced aggression and homicidal impulses – and this could prove to be a fatal combination that could take many lives.

Please consider donating to the Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research at the link below so that we can continue our work. It would allow us to focus on using our personal knowledge of akathisia to help save the many lives that will likely be lost to medication-induced suicide or homicide unless it is addressed on a large scale immediately.

Your donation would help create and staff a 24/7 helpline for patients, their families, and providers, publish an academic “Journal of Akathisia” to facilitate research, manufacture and distribute medical alert bracelets, and implement major campaigns aimed at creating widespread awareness of akathisia such as billboards, etc. Our ultimate long-term goal is to open and staff a privately-funded research center.

Whether or not you can make a donation, please help spread awareness of akathisia by sharing this with others.

Thank you!