RFK Jr. Says SSRI Withdrawal Is Worse Than Heroin: Health Secretary Launches Federal Deprescribing Initiative
HHS Secretary Kennedy Tells Mental Health Summit Antidepressant Medication Will No Longer Be Default Treatment as Survivors Share Their Stories
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched a federal deprescribing initiative for antidepressants and other psychiatric medications, declaring at a Make America Healthy Again summit on 6 May 2026 that the country has been overmedicalising children and adults for decades.
"Psychiatric medications have a role in care, but we will no longer treat them as the default," Kennedy said. He recounted watching a family member endure daily suicidal thoughts while withdrawing from SSRIs, calling it worse than his own past heroin withdrawal because "after 72 hours, it's over" with heroin.
HHS Launches SSRI Deprescribing Initiative as Patients Share Lifelong Side Effects
Survivors at the summit told brutal stories. Danielle Gansky received a stimulant prescription at age 8, then escalating psychiatric medications by age 10. Cameron LaBar began SSRIs at age 9 and took 20 years to realise his emotional numbness was a side effect, not his personality.
Lauren Friedman described persistent sexual dysfunction and emotional numbness from SSRIs. Nick Taber argued society has medicalised normal childhood responses to difficult environments.
The HHS initiative includes new SAMHSA guidance prioritising informed consent and non pharmaceutical alternatives, expanded CMS reimbursement for medication withdrawal monitoring, training webinars and clinical tapering guidelines, and expanded billing codes for evidence based non pharmacological services. "This is a system failure. We're not going to ignore it," Kennedy said.
The Crusader's Opinion
For decades the pharmaceutical industry, in partnership with a credentialed psychiatric profession, has medicated American children for being children. They have medicated grieving widows. They have medicated trauma survivors who needed Christ, counsel, and community, not chemicals. RFK is not perfect, but on this he is right. Christians have known forever that the human soul cannot be patched together with a pill. Bring back trauma therapy. Bring back the church family. Bring back the pastor's office. The deprescribing initiative is overdue. Pray it survives the lobbyists.
Take Action
- Read: The new SAMHSA guidance on informed consent
- Support: Your local biblical counselling movement and Christian therapists
- Contact: Your representative urging support for the deprescribing initiative
- Pray: For families navigating safe medication withdrawal
- Share: Kennedy's "default" quote and challenge the over medication of children
