Robert f. Shortly after Kennedy Junior was sworn in as Secretaries of Health and Human Services Department, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for a team, which to study the use of antidepressant, antisicotics and obesity drugs in children Calls for a team, claiming these drugs, claiming these drugs may be a “threat” for adolescents.
The order was called for the formation of Make America Healthy Again Commission – to preside over Kennedy – aimed at understanding chronic diseases.
Among the targets of the Commission is to “selective serotonin reptec inhibitors, antisycotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and weight-loss drugs generated by prescription and assess the prevalence of danger.”
Kennedy has been important for these drugs in the past, incorrectly connects the use of antidepressants with school shooting.
Additionally, Kennedy has focused on improving health and nutrition, with baseless claims that weight loss drugs are used to treat obesity in very young children and obesity epidemic in the United States ” Good food can be cured with “.
Psychiatrist and obesity experts tell ABC News that Kennedy and Trump administration are remembering some references how antidepressant – and other drugs are used to treat mental health conditions – and obesity drugs are prescribed.
These experts – with the American Academy of Child and Adolateable Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association – said that these drugs are safe and effective and usually coupled with other forms of treatment. They also suggest that every patient should consult his doctor before taking any prescribed medicine.
Dr., an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Northwestern Finburg School of Medicine. As a person studying chronic diseases to focus on Justin Rider and the crisis around them, I think I think I think I think it is intended to focus on chronic childhood diseases. “Vice President of Research for Surgery Department in N And Robert H. Luri Children Hospital of Chicago, told ABC News.
He said, “There are really some things that I have read in (order), which has given me some hope, but then obviously there are some things that gave me some break and some concern,” he said.
Rider said, “Medical treatment has been focused on medical treatment as a source of increasing chronic diseases, I do not think it is really very good,” Rider said, saying that these drugs are helpful rather than harmful. .
Robert f. Candidates for Kennedy Junior, US President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, their Senate Finance Committee, testifies during their Senate Finance Committee, 29 January 2025.
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What do we know about antidepressant uses in children
A class of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reeptake inhibitors, is most commonly used to treat children.
Evidence suggests that according to a 2019 study by Yale University, SSRIs are effective in treating anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders in children.
Additionally, there are currently six etipical, or other generations, antisicotics that are FDA-innovative for use in children and adolescents. They are generally considered safe, but strict doses come with guidelines.
“With SSRIS, they are very safe treatment, as we have many anticycotics, so they may have some side effects,” Dr. Joseph Sasen, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Professor in Clinical Pharmacy and Family Medicine Departments. Skags School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, ABC News at Colorado University.
The executive order has also mentioned stimulating, which is a section of drugs used to treat meditation/overdose/overdose disorder, or ADHD.
“The case of stimulating is slightly different for his approved signal,” Sasen said. “They are considered safe and impressive, but they have drug addiction and most of them who are stimulants are controlled substances.”
He said, “Overall, anything approved by the FDA is considered a safe and effective treatment. None of these is new. Sometimes we get a new type of medicine, but we work with a novel drug class Not where we do not donate ‘T know what is expected. “
A professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Bayler College of Medicine in Texas and Dr. Asim Shah said that the possibility of addiction is likely to decrease when people are given the correct dose with the correct diagnosis.
He said that medicines for mental health conditions undergo strong growth, test, clinical testing and review process before entering the market.
Additionally, before approving drugs in children, they should usually be shown to be safe and effective in adults, Shah said.
He said that these drugs are usually given to children only after trying other treatments.
“When we think of medicine in children, remember that the best treatment in children is the drug therapy therapy and a complete treatment regime,” Shah told ABC News. “We are not just talking about giving children to medicine. It does not work alone. There is a complete treatment protocol. Just no one is to throw drugs.”
Shah and Sasen agreed that using the term “danger” in the executive order, it could mean that these drugs are unsafe and said that benefits are not being considered.
“I think the use of the word ‘danger’ comes from those who are not in the medical field, because it is not a medical term we will use,” Sasen said. “We will use the risk of conditions.
In this uncontrolled stock photo, a man holds his head on a desk behind a pile of bullets.
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Kennedy and others have also been criticized for spreading wrong information about antidepressants.
During the hearing of his confirmation in the end of January, Kennedy incorrectly suggested that it was difficult to leave compared to antidepressants heroin.
“I know people, including my family members, who had a very bad time from SSRIS, as they are getting off heroin,” Kennedy during the hearing.
Shah and Sasen said that there is no evidence that eliminates the use of antidepressants to eliminate the use of heroin.
“I have no evidence because I don’t think it exists,” Sasen said. “I think they are very different diseases. I think it is actually demolishing patients who have serious mental health disorders, and it is problematic. We already have a problem with a stigma, mental With this type of language.
Additionally, in the 2023 livestream on X with Elon Musk, Kennedy falsely claimed that “tremendous circumstantial evidence” that people using antidepressants were more likely to have school firing.
Shah said that there is no evidence to suggest that patients with mental health disorders, or those who are on drugs for disorders, are more likely to be violent.
“Less than 5% people who have mental health issues will become violent,” Shah said. “This is a much less number than the normal population. … It is a myth, in other words.”
“Violence can happen to someone,” he said. “The biggest concern of violence in mental health is those who are untreated mental health patients. … So we need to destroy mental illness. We need to treat mental illness effectively. There is a need to provide cheap care.
Weight loss drugs together with other treatments
Currently there are six drugs approved by the FDA to treat overweight and obesity: orlistat, phentremine-topiramate, natrexone-boopropian, liraglutide, semaglutide, semaglutide and tirzepetide-binds are known by two brand names Vegovi and Zapebound.
Four of these drugs are approved for children aged 12 and older, which are approved with fifth drug approved for the treatment of children aged 6 and above, which have rare genetic disorders that cause obesity to obesity .
In this uncontrolled stock photo, the vegovi injection pen is piled on a table.
Stock Photo/Adobe Stock
Kennedy has made childhood nutrition the foundation stone of its platform and has earlier stated that if the country pays more for quality food, it will “solve obesity crisis”.
During his second confirmation hearing last month, Kennedy said that obesity drugs should not be “the first front-line intervention for 6-year-old children”, which he alleged without evidence was “now the standard of practice”.
Rider said that it is not a standard of practice, stating that these drugs are prescribed in combination with proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.
“Obese medicines are not given in a vacuum,” Ryder said. “The same thing with bariatric surgery. They are always with nutrition advice, behavior counseling, physical activity advice. It can be very intensive.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that drugs should be a part of the conversation for overweight children and young teenagers – not the sole solution, Rider said.
“Obesity drugs do not solve obesity themselves,” he said. “They are an additional tool to help people help people on their weight loss trip. , Controlling the size of your share, obtaining physical activity, obtaining physical activity helps with it.
