Teenscreens David Shaffer, MD accidentally proves antidepressants cause kids to suicide! OOPS  

archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/con...63/8/865
Antidepressant Drug Therapy and Suicide in Severely Depressed Children and Adults
A Case-Control Study

Mark Olfson, MD, MPH; Steven C. Marcus, PhD; David Shaffer, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:865-872.

Context The Food and Drug Administration has issued a boxed warning concerning increased suicidal ideation and behavior associated with antidepressant drug treatment in children and adolescents. It is unknown whether antidepressant agents increase the risk of suicide death in children or adults.

Objective To estimate the relative risk of suicide attempt and suicide death in severely depressed children and adults treated with antidepressant drugs vs those not treated with antidepressant drugs.

Design Matched case-control study.

Setting Outpatient treatment settings in the United States.

Participants Medicaid beneficiaries from all 50 states who received inpatient treatment for depression, excluding patients treated for pregnancy, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other psychoses, mental retardation, dementia, or delirium. Controls were matched to cases for age, sex, race or ethnicity, state of residence, substance use disorder, recent suicide attempt, number of days since hospital discharge, and recent treatment with antipsychotic, anxiolytic/hypnotic, mood stabilizer, and stimulant medications.

Main Outcome Measures Suicide attempts and suicide deaths.

Results In adults (aged 19-64 years), antidepressant drug treatment was not significantly associated with suicide attempts (odds ratio [OR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86-1.39 [521 cases and 2394 controls]) or suicide deaths (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.52-1.55 [86 cases and 396 controls]). However, in children and adolescents (aged 6-18 years), antidepressant drug treatment was significantly associated with suicide attempts (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.12-2.07 [263 cases and 1241 controls]) and suicide deaths (OR, 15.62; 95% CI, 1.65-infinity [8 cases and 39 controls]).

Conclusions In these high-risk patients, antidepressant drug treatment does not seem to be related to suicide attempts and death in adults but might be related in children and adolescents. These findings support careful clinical monitoring during antidepressant drug treatment of severely depressed young people.


Author Affiliations: New York State Psychiatric Institute/Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York (Drs Olfson and Shaffer); and University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, Philadelphia (Dr Marcus).
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David Shaffer
Psychiatrist, Creator of TeenScreen
David Shaffer was the head and driving force behind the development of the computerized screening tool that TeenScreen employs, the "Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children" (also known as DISC). Following this he helped to devise a shorter computerized version that is easier to use in schools, the "Diagnostic Predictive Scales" (DPS), and a paper and pencil version of the screening tool, the "Columbia Health Screen" (CHS). For more information on the development of the screening tools and how they are used to label children with normal childhood reactions as "mentally ill" and funnel them into the psychiatric / pharmaceutical system, click here.
Shaffer’s Ties to the Pharmaceutical Industry
Shaffer has known connections to the pharmaceutical industry. His resume (see page 20 of this report) includes serving as an expert witness to several drug companies and as a paid consultant on psychotropic drugs.
Shaffer is the past president of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and currently on their board of directors. AFSP is an organization with known pharmaceutical ties. For example, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Inc., Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, all have members on AFSP’s board. Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. has provided at least $1,250,000 in the AFSP’s effort to build up a $5 million research fund and Pfizer Inc. has contributed funding for surveys.
The following corporations have provided funding for different conferences held by Shaffer’s AFSP:
• Forest Laboratories, Inc.
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
Shaffer is also on the Executive Board of the “Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health at Columbia University” (CACMH). This organization has partnered with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) and has received funding from the following corporations:
• AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Celltech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Forest Labs
• Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
• Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals
• Pfizer, Inc.
Shaffer’s Statements on TeenScreen
In an interview that Shaffer did in 2003 on TeenScreen, he states: "We did studies to look at the accuracy of the TeenScreen. […] it does identify a whole bunch of kids who aren’t really suicidal, so you get a lot of false-positives. And that means if you’re running a large program at a school, you’re going to cripple the program because you’re going to have too many kids you have to do something about."
When Shaffer was asked how he addresses people who question the dangers of prescribing to the false-positives, he stated: "I think that standing by itself, that criticism is meaningless because we don’t know what harm the antidepressants do, if any, and we don’t know who they do harm to". He is either unaware of the hundreds of suicides and murders caused by children and adults on antidepressants, or he is telling a bald-faced PR lie.
In the same interview, Shaffer confirmed his stance on pro-drugging when he was asked: “Finally, what are your thoughts about non-pharmacological approaches to suicide prevention?”  Shaffer says: “... psychotherapy is not terribly effective [...] So if there really is evidence that certain or all antidepressants can cut this cycle of depression, plus stress, plus this rapid response, then that seems to be where the big hope is.” You'll note that he does not mention any statistics of suicide rates dropping due to people being on these drugs—nor does he mention that the FDA has determined that teens are more susceptible to suicidal thoughts while on antidepressants, and that these drugs have been shown in hundreds of cases to cause normal teens to commit suicide and murder out of the blue. Also note that Shaffer does not entertain any alternative solutions such as nutritional methods— and in many cases it has been discovered that depression has been due to improper nutrition and bad diet. For example, a lack of the B vitamins alone in a person's diet can reduce energy and cause mental lethargy, including depression. Shaffer seems to consider that only artificial drugs can combat suicides. Whatever happened to "Say No to Drugs"?
Shaffer Attempted to Block Negative British Findings
In December of 2003 British drug regulators recommended against the use of antidepressants in the treatment of depressed children under 18. They concluded that “their benefits [the drugs] did not outweigh their potential risks”, risks that included suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
According to a December 11, 2003, New York Times article, Shaffer sent a letter, at Pfizer's request, to block the findings of the British drug agency, saying he had concluded that there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents. Naturally if these findings were to be widely known to be true, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth-Ayerst and other large pharmaceutical companies would stand to lose BILLIONS of dollars in revenue.
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Sign the Teenscreen petition!
www.petitiononline.com/TScree...on.html
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theeffexoractivist.org/forum/...rum.php
The Out of the Darkness Overnight march” is a scam, perpetrated by The pharmaceutical industry on the grieving loved ones of suiciders!

The pharmaceutical industry is up to it’s dirty tricks again.

“The Out of the Darkness Overnight march”
www.theovernight.org/

and the connection to Teenscreen
www.teenscreentruth.com/Teensc...ard.htm

In 2006, The Overnight will take place in San Francisco on July 22-23, and in Chicago on August 12-13.
Each walker agrees to raise at least $1,000.
Net proceeds will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, (supposedly to prevent suicide.) How ever this Foundation funds Teenscreen. the real result will be more teens on drugs known to the F.D.A. and others to INCREASE the numbers of suicidal teenagers. This march takes advantage of grieving people and is an example of how far the pharmaceutical industry is willing to go to get kids on drugs! The organizers of teenscreen have been caught lying repeatedly. learn more

Learn more here
theeffexoractivist.org/forum/...pic.php

See cool art posters


community.webshots.com/user/e...ctivist