The Liberty Daily 
(The Epoch Times)—The federal government is taking steps to tackle what it described as the overprescribing of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at an event focused on “mental health and overmedicalization” in Washington on May 4.
Kennedy noted that a significant percentage of Americans take drugs for mental health, including around 10 percent of children.
“That’s not a marginal issue. This is a system-level pattern,” he said. “Too many patients begin treatment without a clear understanding of the risks and how long they will stay on these drugs, and how they will come off of it. And we’re going to fix it.”
Four divisions of Kennedy’s agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a May 4 “Dear Colleague” letter to health care providers that they should fully inform patients of the risks and benefits before prescribing drugs.
The letter was signed by the leaders of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Administration for Children and Families.
Patients should also be told of potential symptoms when stopping the drugs, and of alternatives that are not pharmacological, such as psychotherapy and physical activity, the divisions said.
“HHS also encourages regular and deliberate review of psychiatric medication regimens to ensure that each medication remains necessary, beneficial, and aligned with the individual’s current clinical needs and treatment goals,” the letter stated.
In some cases, it is clear that continued use of a medication is warranted, but in others, the medication may no longer be providing any meaningful benefit, authorities said. That means that tapering or discontinuation should happen, with doctors closely monitoring such patients.
Additional steps in the coming months will include the publication of new data on prescribing trends, further guidance for doctors, and training modules on psychiatric medication risks, tapering, and how to stop prescribing drugs to psychiatric patients. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an HHS division, will also be outlining in forthcoming documents that doctors can be reimbursed for that work, including planning for a patient’s care and monitoring withdrawal symptoms.
Kennedy said at the event on Monday, held by the MAHA Institute, “psychiatric medications have a role in care but we will no longer treat them as the default.” He added, “We will treat them as one option, used when appropriate, with fully transparency, and a clear path off when they are no longer effective.”
The Make America Healthy Again Commission, led by Kennedy and convened by President Donald Trump, had said in 2025 that the government should address what it called “a concerning trend of overprescribing medications to children, often driven by conflicts of interest in medical research, regulation, and practice.”
It said that HHS would be looking at prescription patterns for antidepressants and other drugs for mental health, among other matters.
Side effects of antidepressants can include suicidal thoughts.
Kennedy said that withdrawal from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a commonly prescribed class of antidepressants, can be more difficult than withdrawal from the highly addictive drug heroin. He said he’s heard from hundreds of people that withdrawal from the antidepressants can be prolonged and, for many, “completely unexpected.” Doctors often react by asserting the patients’ original symptoms are returning and urging them to resume use of the drugs, Kennedy said.
The government is stepping in to provide information, and is not telling patients to stop taking the medications, he clarified.
