{"id":426930,"date":"2026-05-05T19:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/426930\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T19:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:03:07","slug":"us-to-take-steps-to-curb-antidepressant-prescribing-rfk-jr-says-robert-f-kennedy-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/426930\/","title":{"rendered":"US to take steps to curb antidepressant prescribing, RFK Jr says | Robert F Kennedy Jr"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal health department will begin a series of steps intended to curb antidepressant use in the US, Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> announced this week.<\/p>\n

Antidepressants, specifically selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have long been a target for Kennedy, the Trump administration\u2019s health secretary, who talked about the plans at an event on Monday hosted by the Make America Healthy Again Institute, an organization focused on advancing the Maha agenda. He has claimed without evidence that the drugs are linked to a rise in school shootings and has expressed concerns about weaning off the medications and withdrawal symptoms.<\/p>\n

In a press release<\/a> about the plans, the Department of Health and Human Services said its intent was to \u201ccurb psychiatric overprescribing\u201d and promote \u201cdeprescribing when clinically indicated\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the event, Kennedy said he recognized the role of psychiatric medications, but that his department \u201cwill no longer treat them as the default, we will treat them as one option, to be used when appropriate, with full transparency and with a clear path off when they are no longer needed\u201d, according to the New York Times\u2019 reporting<\/a> on the summit, which focused on \u201covermedicalization\u201d of mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear: if you are taking psychiatric medication, we are not telling you to stop. We are making sure you, and your clinician, have the information and support to make the right decision for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A survey in 2025<\/a> across all 50 states showed nearly 17% of respondents currently used antidepressants. The survey also found that a \u201csignificant proportion of adults in every US state oppose efforts to restrict access to antidepressant prescribing\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the department press release, Kennedy said the action plan was intended to address \u201coveruse\u201d of these medications, \u201cespecially among children\u201d.<\/p>\n

A letter<\/a> issued on Monday from top HHS officials details to providers the goal to reduce antidepressant use and encourages the use of non-medication options for treating depression, including psychotherapy, diet, physical activity and social connection. The letter intended to \u201cemphasize the importance of ensuring that treatment planning for mental health conditions includes meaningful access to evidence-based non-pharmacological interventions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen clinically indicated, such treatment should include careful assessment of patient\u2019s symptoms, medication review for efficacy, and when appropriate, deprescribing,\u201d the letter says.<\/p>\n

The department also gave guidance to mental health practitioners that makes clear they can be paid for the medical care involved in deprescribing and sent out resources for how to manage the process of deprescribing.<\/p>\n

The American Psychiatric Association, which counts more than 40,000 physicians as members, said in a statement<\/a> that it \u201cwelcomes the attention placed squarely on the nation\u2019s mental health crisis and is committed to advancing solutions that improve access to high-quality evidence-based care\u201d.<\/p>\n

It supports the administration\u2019s plans to invest in research on the topic and train clinicians on prescribing and deprescribing, but pushed back on the framing of the mental health crisis as a problem of overprescribing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat characterization oversimplifies a complex crisis and ignores the larger reality: too many patients cannot access timely, comprehensive care, while care remains unevenly distributed across our health system,\u201d the association said, adding that the framing doesn\u2019t account for workforce shortages, limited beds for psychiatric care and barriers to access to care.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeprescribing alone is not a sufficient response to this crisis,\u201d it said. \u201cIn psychiatry, as in all areas of medicine, prescribing and deprescribing occur every day as part of individualized, evidence-based treatment planning between physicians and patients. The solution is not to stigmatize psychiatric medication or impose broad assumptions on clinical care, but to ensure that patients have access to the full range of evidence-based treatments and that decisions are guided by the best available science and each patient\u2019s needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal health department will begin a series of steps intended to curb antidepressant use in the US,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":["post-426930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}