RFK Jr.'s HHS drafts antidepressant deprescribing guidance
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- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pressing forward with an HHS initiative aimed at helping Americans stop taking psychiatric drugs, a practice known as deprescribing.
- HHS convened dozens of mental health professionals earlier this month with federal health officials to map out forthcoming clinical guidance on how providers can instruct patients to come off antidepressants.
- Meeting participants reviewed deprescribing guidance from European nations and worked on recommendations for nonmedication-based alternatives, including therapy.
- A senior HHS official said the group discussed research gaps on SSRI deprescribing, including side effects that vary depending on the specific drug and how long the patient had been taking it.
- Officials and clinicians also addressed how to distinguish SSRI discontinuation side effects from a return of a patient's underlying depressive symptoms.
Why it matters: HHS is developing its first formal federal clinical guidance on SSRI deprescribing, drawing on European protocols and input from dozens of mental health professionals. By elevating nonmedication options like therapy as recommended alternatives, the guidance would mark a notable federal-level shift in how antidepressant treatment is framed for prescribers and patients.
