Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making a new move in his anti-antidepressant efforts. On Monday, the health secretary unveiled a federal push aimed at scaling back routine prescribing of SSRIs—drugs like Zoloft, Lexapro, Paxil, and Prozac, taken by about 1 in 6 US adults—and boosting help for those who want to taper off, reports the New York Times. The plan includes new Medicare and Medicaid payments for clinicians who spend time helping patients discontinue meds; federal training modules on risks and tapering; and expert-drafted "deprescribing" guidelines.
Kennedy framed the effort as rebalancing care, urging more use of therapy, exercise, social connection, diet, and other nondrug options. "We will no longer treat [psychiatric medications] as the default," he said, while stressing the government isn't telling anyone to stop taking them. The American Psychiatric Association objected to what it called a "blanket 'overprescribing' hypothesis" but welcomed a role in shaping new guidelines.
Evidence on withdrawal varies. Some research suggests that more than half of patients experience symptoms when stopping antidepressants, while others put the rate closer to 1 in 6. Kennedy, who has previously linked SSRIs to school shootings without evidence and compared quitting them with quitting heroin, repeated that latter claim on Monday. Kennedy has asserted it's harder to get off of SSRIs than heroin, "a stance that ignores decades of evidence about their safety and efficacy," a STAT op-ed noted earlier this year.
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