Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to encourage physicians to help patients deprescribe antidepressants has created significant tension within American psychiatry. The American Psychiatric Association recently held its annual meeting just 10 days after Kennedy announced policies aimed at deprescribing, or assisting patients in stopping, the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants—selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
The organization’s response has been cautious and divided. Dr. Marketa Wills, the APA’s chief executive, declared “we will never support governmental interference in the practice of medicine” and emphasized the organization’s commitment to “evidence-based care” and standing “against stigma, oversimplification, and anything that would move patients further away from the care that they need.” However, the APA’s leadership also engaged with Kennedy’s initiative: in July, the association’s president will participate in a Department of Health and Human Services panel convening to develop clinical guidance on tapering antidepressants.
Clinical data presents a complicated picture. A 2026 study found that 16.6 percent of U.S. adults—roughly one in six—reported currently taking an antidepressant. Clinical trials have found that most patients’ depressive symptoms improved with SSRIs, and they are considered safe enough to be prescribed by general practitioners. The Department of Health and Human Services stated the agency had had “no discussions about banning S.S.R.I.s” and emphasized that the initiative aims to “promote appropriate psychiatric prescribing and drive deprescribing when clinically indicated.”
Some psychiatrists expressed concern that Kennedy’s deprescribing initiative represents the beginning of a wider effort to discredit psychiatry more broadly and restrict access to care. Dr. Eric Rafla-Yuan, who chairs the APA’s caucus on the social determinants of health, stated, “The data has not changed on S.S.R.I.s. It’s the narrative that has changed.”
Simultaneously, deprescribing emerged as a topic of significant interest at the conference itself. Sessions on deprescribing antipsychotics and the “Much Too Medicated Patient” attracted attention, particularly from younger psychiatrists in their 30s and 40s who are more conscious of poor outcomes years after psychiatric medication use.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://newspub.live/science/rfk-jr-s-push-to-curb-antidepressants-has-shaken-psychiatry/