Army Suicide Report Ignores Suicide-Causing Drugs
By Martha Rosenberg
Why are troops killing themselves?
The long awaited Army report, “Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, Suicide Prevention” barely considers is the suicide-inked antidepressants, antipsychotics and antiseizure drugs whose use exactly parallels the increase in US troop suicides since 2005.
In the report Chief of Staff General Peter W. Chiarelli acknowledges antidepressant risks, saying there’s “fair quality evidence that second generation antidepressants (mostly SSRI) increase suicidal behavior in adults aged 18 to 29 years” but adds that “other research evidence shows the benefit of antidepressant use”.
And nowhere does he acknowledge the suicide potential of antiseizure drugs so widely used for pain and as “mood stabilizers” by troops even though the FDA mandated suicide warnings on Lyrica, Topamaz, Depakote, Lamictal, Tegretol, Depakene, Klonopin and 16 others in 2008.
Any scientist or doctor who has earned their advanced degree should be able to set up an experiment that will, if not indisputably get the results desired, at least raise some “serious qustions and hypotheses” that bring anything into serious doubt. That is the reason science and math education are better paying jobs, in an era of outsourcing and downsizing.