It’s a commonly known fact that the prefrontal cortex of the brain—the part responsible for executive function and decision-making independent of emotion—does not fully develop until about age 25.
Within the same body of research that gives us this known fact, we are also told that psychotropic medications do little to nothing to help adolescents’ risky behaviors that contribute to criminal or offensive conduct.
So why are we prescribing mind-altering drugs to children as young as 7-years-old while ignoring the undeniable fact that these drugs synthetically alter the developing human brain and create dependency?
Luckily, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asked the same question.
On May 4, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a sweeping action plan targeting the overprescribing of psychiatric medications—SSRIs chief among them. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled the initiative at the MAHA Institute's Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit. For the first time in a long time, the federal government is asking the right questions.
Nearly 30 million American adults are on antidepressants, and at least 2 million adolescents ages 12-17 are as well, with that number rising significantly since COVID.
The FDA approves Prozac for children as young as 8, yet there is no federal surveillance system comprehensively tracking how many children under 12 are actually being prescribed these drugs nationwide. A medication approved for children as young as 8 has no federal body actively tracking how many of those children are taking it—that's insane.
What should really alarm us—if anything could be worse than prescribing psychiatric medication to a young child for moods and behaviors that could otherwise be addressed through better diet, exercise, structure, and environment—is the fact that most psychiatric medications are prescribed by non-psychiatric doctors, often during 10-15 minute appointments.
We have a society plagued by a mind-virus at the hands of the very professionals tasked with keeping us healthy.
Antidepressants (SSRIs and SNRIs) lead the pack in psychiatric prescriptions, with anxiolytics and sedatives (benzodiazepines) right behind them. They rank fifth overall among all prescription drugs given to Americans. Opioids rank twelfth on that list. And for children, stimulants top the psychiatric medication category, with antidepressants right behind them.
The fact that we give any child mind-altering medication should alarm every parent—and if it doesn’t, it proves the lack of informed consent doctors are providing to patients who walk into their offices because of uncomfortable moods or unmanageable behaviors.
The responsibility for our children always lies with their parents. And parents look to professionals to guide them through situations that may appear medical in nature.
Doctors have an ethical and legal obligation to provide all information associated with a treatment—that is the essence of informed consent. We have abandoned that standard, and it should be illegal.
Just recently, a leaked Kaiser memo reportedly instructed doctors and nurses to bypass questions and concerns about vaccines and medications to avoid fully informing patients about the risks associated with the drugs.
How is that not punishable by law?
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is attempting to put an end to this malpractice through this new initiative. People need to understand the dangers of overprescribing medications that are doing far more harm than good—especially to the underdeveloped brain. And the withdrawal many people experience from SSRIs can be far more torturous than withdrawal from opioids.
Ella Emhoff—Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter—shared in December that she has been on SSRIs for nearly 15 years and is only now processing how little information she was given about the severity of withdrawal from these drugs, thanks to RFK Jr.’s push for informed consent.
And whether people want to call it a conspiracy theory or not, the reality remains that many individuals in the trans community are currently taking SSRIs, and some have gone on to harm themselves or others. RFK Jr. wants the public to examine the connection between these drugs and behavioral instability for one obvious reason: because the damage being done is widespread.
It’s time we hold doctors to the standards they swore to uphold—to provide help without harm. And that can only happen with full informed consent. In some cases, the harm is the medication itself.
Soad Tabrizi is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a private practice based in Orange County, CA (www.soadtabrizi.com). Soad is also the founder of www.ConservativeCounselors.com.
