The FDAs Final Word on Antidepressant-Induced Suicidality in Children

The FDA s Final Word on Antidepressant-Induced Suicidality in Children 

Newman (2004), who said, The results were striking The fact that 

In reality, since the short-term, company-run clinical trials were wholly unsuited to detecting suicidality, the risk had to be much more than modest to show up at all. In addition, Hammad et al. (2006) admitted to a fact that I had been insisting on for years in publications and testimony that the drug company s premier measure of suicidality, the Hamilton Depression (Ham-D) Scale, is useless in that regard. The investigator asks the subject questions from the scale, only one of which is related to suicidality. Obviously, the answers will depend on how seriously the question is asked, and rote questions are likely to elicit rote answers. The inventor of the Ham-D Scale did not himself believe that it could be used as a scientific tool in the manner that the drug companies have utilized it (Hamilton, 1960). 

---