In his first meeting with employees, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior said on Tuesday that according to an employee in appearance, he intends to address the risks of children’s potential overdices and antidepressants.
The promise echoed an executive order that President Donald Trump established the Make America Healthy Again Commission last week, which he especially tasked to reduce chronic diseases among children. Trump made Kennedy a chair.
The agenda of the Commission, according to the order, involves to see if the anti-depression is being overcome for children; Trump asked for a report, “there is a prevalence and danger of danger and danger generated by a prescription of selective serotonin rippetek inhibitors.”
Known as SSRIS, this class of antidepressants increases serotonin levels, which is a chemical messenger in the brain that can improve mood. This includes laxapro, prosec and zoloft, which treats conditions such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive binding disorders. Depending on the medical condition, some SSRIs are approved for children starting from 6 to 10 years of age, but they are more commonly used by adults than minors.
In recent years, Kennedy has criticized what he sees as an over -use of these drugs, suggesting that they may be addictive and hazardous side effects.
He said, “I know people, including my family members, who had a very bad time from SSRI, as people had to get off the heroin,” they said during the hearing of their Senate confirmation.
In the past, Kennedy has raised false claims connecting SSRI with school shooting. He said in the recent hearing that he believes that a possible relationship “should be studied with other potential culprits.” (A 2019 study found that most of the school shooters did not take psychotropic drugs, and when they found “no direct or causes association” with shooting.
However, doctors say SSRIs are not addictive, and even the most extreme side effects that the FDA has warned, the risk of suicide ideas between children and teenagers, is only slightly high – a placebo picks Among the 4% vs are 2% taking a placebo. ,
Now in the event of converting his beliefs into a policy, Kennedy is seen throwing SSRI into the national headlines – a step supported by some conservatives who have embraced the “Maha” movement – make America healthy again.
“I know many people who take anti -depression. In almost every case, there are clearly clear things in his life, which will make any normal person depressed, “right -wing podcaster and commentator Matt Walsh wrote on the X on Tuesday,” changing lifestyle or behaving with the underlying Instead, “trauma, they are given drugs. ,
Increasing attention on SSRIS has inspired mental health advocacy groups to speak in support of drugs. Drugs can be a life-guard by reducing the ideas of suicide, and can also help people with severe depression or anxiety on a daily basis and maintain social relations.
The International OCD Foundation said in a statement, “We are deeply concerned that some of these instructions may create significant obstacles for effective treatment for people suffering from obsessive binding disorders (OCDs) and related conditions.”
Sen Tina Smith, D-Min., who challenged Kennedy during his confirmation on his comments about SSRI, said in a statement: “Under this executive order, an issue between Americans and their physicians Instead of being, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy is planting seeds in those drugs to reduce people’s trust which prove to be safe, effective, and save lives in some circumstances. ,
White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that in response to questions about why MAHA Commission is investigating SSRI, “Americans have lost faith in the medical system that lets us down during the Kovid epidemic And inspects an unprecedented explosion in chronic disease. ”
“The Trump-Vance administration will continue to review the current best practices and healthcare bodies to implement the necessary reforms,” he said.
In children and adolescents, SSRIs are usually reserved for cases associated with moderate or serious symptoms, such as those who are actively suicidal or whose depression prevents them from eating, sleeping, socialization or participating in school.
Gold for severe depression is to use SSRI in combination with standard therapy, Dr. Christine Croped, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Associate Medical Director in a non -profit group.
“If things are serious, we will add the drug component to it, so that the child can actually work physically,” he said.
The use of SSRI among minors has increased considerably in recent years – a trend Kennedy has been referred to during their hearing. A study last year found that the number of people between the ages of 12 to 17 increased by 43% from 2016 to 2022 with antidepressant prescription. (However, the study also found that young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 had double the total number of tips. For the small group.)
The writer of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan Medical School, Dr. Cao-Ping Chua stated that a clarification for the trend is that “The prevalence of anxiety and depression is also increasing among teenagers, young adults, the first epidemic. ,
“During the epidemic, there is enough evidence to suggest that the mental health of this group deteriorated,” he said.
Experts generally agree that it is important to find out why teenagers and young adults have depression and anxiety experience.
Dr. Michael said, “There are many reasons that children can feel sad or worried, including the school to experience significant trauma, poverty, social difficulties, and I think medicines are sometimes given in those cases when medicines are given in those cases A psychological intervention will be very effective, “Dr. Michael said. Baloch Director of Pediatrics Depression Clinic at Yale School of Medicine.
Lack of available or affordable physician can also encourage people with symptoms to take medication as the first row treatment. Baloch said that adding more mental health services in schools can address that issue.
However, he said that when it comes to anti-depression, “It is largely systematic science that they use in lots of children with anxiety, OCD and depression.”
For Kennedy’s claims about the risks of SSRI, doctors said that drugs do not cause dependence, although if patients do not taper the dose properly, when they start stopping taking them, they return Can experience symptoms of. It is also true about other types of drugs, including blood pressure and seizures.
And while SSRI can have side effects – such as nausea, headache and difficulty in sleeping – Kennedy suggests that they may be bound by violence, it is also wrong. Although antidepressant warns about the potential risk of suicidal ideas and behavior in children and adolescents, Kennedy incorrectly stated in his confirmation hearing that warnings referred to “homeicidal behavior”.
Some doctors question whether warnings are absolutely necessary and worrying that it has harassed people who need drugs by taking them.
However, there are important unanswered questions about antidepressants, doctors said. Blowch, which treats children with depression and OCD, said that it does not have good data compared to the high versus low doses of SSRI, or evaluates the risk of taking children away from medicine.
And Croford stated that due to many obstacles in children conducting clinical studies, “We retreat from the adult population in terms of drugs that FDAs are approved.”
