Google's depression tool could lead to dangerous over-treatment

Google's screening tool that enables people to check online whether they are clinically depressed could do more harm than good, one expert has warned.

Last month, the tech giant released a self-assessment quiz, called the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), which pops up as a result for the search query 'Am I depressed?' on a computer or cell phone.

Google developed its test in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) but one professor claims that the quiz could just lead to over-treatment of depression amid the US's opioid epidemic.

He warns the tool's development was funded by major drug company Pfizer, which profits from the sale of antidepressants.

Simon Gilbody, professor of psychological medicine at the University of York, warned that the test has a high likelihood of returning false positives.

David Gilbert, director of InHealth Associates echoed concerns about Pfizer's involvement.

'Google is driving people quicker down the path to big pharma. Remember,Pfizer funded the development of the tool,' he wrote in Head to Head.

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