BLOGSCAN - More Criticism of Study Linking Rising Youth Suicide and "Black Box" Warnings for SSRIs

On the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry blog, this post dissects that study which purported to link the decreasing use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) anti-depressants, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated a "black box" warning for these drugs, circa 2004, with increasing youth suicide rates (in 2004). It turns out that the study's methods appear rather weak. Questions had already been raised about the study (see earlier post on Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry) , which was also not corroborated by reports that the suicide rate declined again in 2005 (see another earlier post). We previously noted Merrill Goozner's critical take on the same study in GoozNews, in which he also alluded to the conflict of interest of the study's author that was widely ignored in its previous media coverage.