Authors: Yasmin Abutaleb and Beau Ericson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials last week explored the possibility of banning certain drugs in a widely used class of antidepressants, two people familiar with the matter said, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prepared to launch a plan to reduce their use.
One of the people said interest is focused on specific treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Zoloft, Prozac and Lexapro, which have been available in the United States for decades. The sources did not say which drugs were being checked for restrictions or how far the investigation into them had progressed.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that “there has not been any discussion about banning SSRIs and any suggestion otherwise is false.”
Kennedy on Monday announced moves aimed at reducing SSRI use while trying to reassure Americans who still want to take the drugs. These include reimbursement guidelines for doctors who help patients wean themselves off medications, as well as plans to share data on prescribing trends and investments in training for health care providers.
“Psychiatric medications have a role to play in care, but we will no longer treat them as the default medication,” Kennedy said Monday at the Mental Health and Overmedication Summit. “Let me be clear: If you are taking psychiatric medications, we are not going to tell you to stop.”
About one in six U.S. adults are currently taking antidepressant medications, with SSRI drugs, widely available in generic form, being the most common type, according to a 2026 study in the medical journal BMJ Mental Health. The American Psychiatric Association considers SSRIs to be the first choice for evidence-based treatment of depression.
“There are a lot of prescriptions because a lot of people have conditions that respond to these drugs,” including depression and several anxiety disorders, said Dr. J. John Mann of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “Restricting the use of these drugs is medically unjustified.”
Kennedy’s past SSRI claims lack evidence
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authority over the use of antidepressants, and any new restrictions would require strong scientific evidence that the risks to patients outweigh the benefits. Drug approval experts say it could take months or years to review new evidence.
Kennedy and his supporters in the Make America Healthy Again movement oppose the widespread use of SSRI antidepressants, arguing that they are overprescribed, especially to children, and are extremely difficult to quit smoking, with Kennedy previously saying withdrawal symptoms are worse than heroin.
Kennedy has also linked SSRIs to violence, including mass shootings, without evidence, and said pregnant women taking the drugs pose a risk to their fetuses. Kennedy said in November that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was studying whether SSRI therapy could lead to mass violence, but did not provide details about that work.
After Kennedy’s announcement on Monday, the Psychiatric Association said in a statement that it supports better research initiatives to help doctors prescribe treatments and decide when patients can stop treatment. It strongly rejects “the idea that the nation’s mental health crisis is primarily a matter of ‘over-medication’ or ‘over-prescription.'”
While relatively safer than older antidepressants, SSRIs are not without side effects, including sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbance, weight changes, dry mouth, headaches, and gastrointestinal upset. In 2004, the FDA issued a black box warning on SSRIs and other antidepressants because of a possible increased risk of suicide in children and young adults.
“While these drugs do carry risks and should be prescribed thoughtfully, sudden policies that stigmatize or restrict their use could have serious public health consequences for patients who rely on these drugs,” said Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
After months of tension with the White House, Kennedy agreed to abandon a widely criticized effort to rewrite U.S. vaccine policy that could hurt Republicans’ chances of retaining control of Congress in November’s midterm elections and instead focus on more popular initiatives.
Drug regulatory experts say the FDA does not have the authority to unilaterally impose a ban on a drug that has been approved in the U.S. and has been on the market for a long time without new evidence of safety concerns or a finding that the original application seeking approval contained false statements. The FDA can ask drugmakers to withdraw drugs, but companies can refuse.
Last month, for example, the FDA proposed revoking its approval of Tavneos, Amgen’s drug to treat a rare autoimmune disease, citing a lack of proven effectiveness and alleged misrepresentations in its original application. Amgen said it remains confident in Tavneos as a safe and effective drug and declined to withdraw the drug.
(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Bo Erickson; Additional reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Bill Berkrot, Rod Nickel)