The shooter who opened fire on worshippers and school children identified as transgender. He claimed that he regretted his transition, noting that he had "brainwashed" himself. Nonetheless, there's been a troubling rise of violent incidents involving individuals identifying as transgender, prompting concerns about the mental health implications of gender dysphoria and the treatments associated with it, as well as other mental health medications. To explore this complex issue, Sheila Matthews, co-founder of the nonprofit AbleChild, joined guest host Casey Harper on Friday's "Washington Watch" to discuss the connections between mental health, psychiatric drugs, and violence.

Harper pointed out a recurring pattern often overlooked by mainstream media: "With so many of the other mass shootings in recent years, legacy media has been burying a key element of thestory,[which is] that many of these shooters had mental health issues, including gender confusion." He referenced Vice President JD Vance, who last week addressed the broader mental health crisis in the US, stating, "This happens too much in our country. And if you look, we really do have ... a mental health crisis in the United States of America. We take way more psychiatric medication than any other nation on Earth, and I think it's time for us to start asking some very hard questions about the root causes of this violence."

Harper noted that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced plans for his department to conduct more research on how psychiatric drugs may contribute to violent behavior. But are these steps sufficient?

Matthews chimed in, saying how her organization has a "long history" of investigating mass killings. "[W]e started with Sandy Hook," she said. "Now, Adam Lanza was not a transgender, but ... he ... was a mental health patient [who] was seeking mental health treatments. And he was on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs that have never been tested together."

Matthews emphasized that many mass killings her organization has studied involve individuals prescribed psychiatric drugs, often untested in combination. She also highlighted that transgender identification falls "under the umbrella of psychiatry" and mental health, raising concerns about the role of medical professionals who "support this lie to our children that they can become a different sex" while prescribing so-called gender-affirming drugs—medications that, like many psychiatric drugs, "have never been tested" for long-term effects or interactions.

Harper questioned the ethics of this approach, asking, "What you're telling me is we're seeing living experiments of combining these cocktails of drugs?" He expressed empathy for those struggling with gender dysphoria, noting, "I really feel a lot of compassion for people who ... feel they need the transgender 'treatment,' as it's called. ... People don't get to that point without [feeling] a lot of pain." Yet, he also pointed out the lack of robust research supporting these treatments. "There's evidence that the ... 'treatments' that we're using don't really help people." Moreover, many psychiatric medications carry significant side effects, further complicating their use.

Matthews agreed, arguing that psychiatric diagnoses like ADHD and bipolar disorder lack scientific grounding: "There is no science behind psychiatric diagnosing. There's no blood test. There's no brain scan. There's no way to determine whether a child has ADHD or [is] bipolar." She described the mental health industry as driven by "a marketing effort—a combination between the psychiatric and pharmaceutical companies."

Matthews went further, critiquing the mental health system as a whole: "There's no way to determine whether this medical model we've been using for 30 years of diagnosing with these false labels and then drugging our children has helped them in any way." She described the model as "very flawed," accusing the industry of sidelining dissenting voices and prioritizing profit over patient well-being, particularly through its ties to pharmaceutical companies.

Harper observed that the mental health field seems to have "departed from a basic understanding of human nature," particularly in its denial of binary gender. "Maybe [they] don't understand human nature well enough to prescribe," he suggested. Matthews concurred, calling the psychiatric industry "totally unregulated" and noting that it often writes its own legislation, excluding parent advocates like AbleChild. She referenced President Donald Trump's promise that "parents would have a seat at the table," emphasizing the need for representation. "We want that seat. We want human rights in mental health. We want informed consent. We want parents to be told that there are no more than two genders. You cannot convert your child from a boy to a girl or a girl to a boy," she asserted.

Matthews stressed the lack of scientific evidence for gender-affirming treatments, calling it "insulting" and "a human rights violation." She also highlighted the financial stakes, noting that psychiatric diagnosing in schools is a "$1 billion business." To address these issues, AbleChild is advocating for greater transparency and accountability. Matthews expressed gratitude for Kennedy's initiative to investigate the link between psychiatric drugs and mass killings. "We've been asking for that." She encouraged public support for AbleChild's petition, which seeks 10,000 signatures to present to the president, urging "informed consent" and "real science" in mental health care.

As the conversation concluded, Matthews reiterated the need for parents to have a voice in mental health policy. "We want you to be able to choose your own type of mental health," she said. "But we want real science and real informed consent." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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