RFK Jr. and antidepressants: MAHA’s conflict on SSRIs like Lexapro

[ad_1] Antidepressant use has skyrocketed amongst younger folks lately, and that’s drawn the eye of the general public well being institution.

SSRI medication, a kind of antidepressant, have been initially supposed for adults. However within the three a long time since Elizabeth Wurtzel’s landmark memoir Prozac Nation hit cabinets, prescriptions have change into far more common .

One research discovered that antidepressant prescriptions for younger adults and teenagers increased by almost 64 p.c after the coronavirus pandemic. Teen women noticed the largest improve, whereas prescriptions really dropped for boys.

Some attribute the rise to social media, which has elevated consciousness round psychological well being, however has additionally led younger folks to diagnose themselves with issues they may not have.

Antidepressants may be lifesaving for individuals who want them. For others, they will create new issues, triggering emotions of lethargy, emotional numbness, and decreased sexual want. And so they don’t work for about half of the sufferers who take them.

Going off antidepressants may also have unwanted side effects , together with milder signs corresponding to dizziness, headache, nausea, insomnia, and irritability, and extra excessive signs corresponding to violent habits and suicidal ideation. Depression relapse can be frequent.

Critics argue that we lack long-term data on the consequences of those medication on mind improvement. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s well being and human providers secretary, is a long-time critic of antidepressants and has known as for extra analysis into their efficacy. He’s additionally made false claims linking their use to mass shootings.

Immediately, Defined host Noel King spoke with Sarah Todd , a well being reporter at Stat Information, about how antidepressants acquired political.

Under is an excerpt of their dialog, edited for size and readability. There’s rather more within the full podcast, so hearken to Immediately, Defined wherever you get podcasts, together with Apple Podcasts , Pandora , and Spotify .

Sarah, whether or not to take antidepressants is a private resolution. However in 2025, what we’ve seen is that this more and more politicized language round them.

Is utilizing SSRIs as a sort of political soccer one thing new?

I don’t keep in mind the introduction of Prozac on the scene. However my impression is that they've had durations during which they’ve been extra political. At the moment, when Elizabeth Wurtzel was writing Prozac Nation , there was a priority that they have been going to be the opiate of the lots, and other people have been simply going to numb themselves . That pale away for some time, and now it appears to be very a lot again within the dialog with the rise of the Make America Wholesome Once more motion.

MAHA has actually targeted on antidepressants, amongst different issues, and the principle voice of MAHA can be HHS Secretary RFK Jr. What has he stated about antidepressants precisely?

So there have been a few completely different claims. He stated at his affirmation hearings that getting off antidepressants was harder than getting off of heroin and that antidepressants have been addictive.

That’s fairly pointed language there. What do we all know concerning the information? Are SSRIs addictive? Are they onerous to come back off?

They aren't addictive. They don’t produce the spikes in dopamine that you'd get with alcohol or medication like cocaine or heroin, that are so pleasurable that they have you ever in search of out your subsequent hit as quickly as you come off of them. As a substitute, [SSRIs] work by concentrating on serotonin within the mind, which is a complete completely different a part of your system. So it’ll make you are feeling extra secure, however not the sort of excessive that you simply would possibly get off of a drug. They do, nevertheless, have the potential to trigger withdrawal signs. In order that half is a real concern.

About 15 p.c of Individuals expertise withdrawal symptoms . And that may be a extremely wide selection: some on the not-so-severe scale, like a headache, and a few extra regarding, every part from insomnia to very severe suicidal ideation. That might be much less frequent, however it might occur.

I think about in case you’re an individual who’s come off of SSRIs and also you’ve had these actual difficulties, it'd really feel like, I used to be addicted , despite the fact that they don’t meet the dictionary definition of dependancy.

What else has RFK Jr. stated about SSRIs?

One other remark that he’s made is suggesting that they’re linked ultimately to mass shootings , and that’s one the place the proof may be very clear that this isn’t true. I discovered one paper that stated that over the previous 30 years, they checked out all of the mass shootings within the US, and simply 4 p.c of the perpetrators had been on antidepressants at any level of their lives. There’s really no evidence that they’re linked to violence.

This summer season, the FDA raised questions on taking SSRIs during pregnancy . The FDA’s mum or dad company, after all, is Well being and Human Providers. What are the issues there?

So the priority there may be actually concerning the potential results on the infants from taking antidepressants, and this can be a difficult difficulty. The American Faculty of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that SSRIs are safe during pregnancy , and so they say the dangers of despair going untreated is far increased than the chance for the mum or dad and the kid of taking the SSRI.

There's a truthful quantity of analysis that’s been achieved on SSRIs. There are some research displaying that infants would possibly initially be fussier after they’re first born, and that will go away with time as they regulate to not receiving the medicine. And there actually aren’t any clear, serious risks which were related to SSRI use throughout being pregnant.

As SSRIs go mainstream, are too many individuals taking them? Are they being overprescribed? What has your reporting informed you about that query?

On the subject of antidepressants being overprescribed, particularly for kids and younger folks — which is what the MAHA motion has often targeted on — it’s an excellent subject to dive into. Reported charges from younger folks of emotions of disappointment and hopelessness have gone up, particularly for certain demographics like teen women and teenagers who're a part of the LGBTQ neighborhood.

So it looks like it’s true that antidepressant prescription charges have gone up. It’s additionally true that the charges of the signs that antidepressants are supposed to deal with have gone up as nicely. The large takeaway to me is that psychological well being for younger folks is a really actual difficulty within the U.S. and one thing that we ought to be doing quite a bit about.

As somebody who covers well being, you’re conscious that the MAHA motion asks a number of questions on many alternative issues: fluoride, Tylenol, vaccines, seed oils.

We’ve lined a few of these issues, and we at all times ask our specialists what occurs whenever you begin asking questions like, “Do antidepressants trigger mass shootings? Are antidepressants linked to issues for infants?” What’s the knock-on impact of all this?

I feel the consequences of “simply asking questions” will rely upon what the questions are. For one thing like SSRIs and mass shootings, the place there’s no proof to counsel that that may be a actuality in any means, I feel asking questions on that might wind up perpetuating stigma towards taking antidepressants, which may very well be actually dangerous for the individuals who may in any other case profit from them. That’s definitely a priority.

On the subject of asking questions on one thing like, “Are antidepressants overprescribed for younger folks?”, I don’t assume that that’s essentially a dangerous path to go down. We ought to be desirous about antidepressants as a part of a set of potential psychological well being therapies that may very well be utilized in mixture with every part from discuss remedy to serving to folks really feel much less lonely. It’s an advanced difficulty. I don’t assume that it’s at all times dangerous to ask questions, however I do assume it’s good to consider what the potential implications are of suggesting dangerous results when there’s no proof to counsel that that will be the case.