Should I stop my Antidepressants? What RFK Jr. Got Right, and Dangerously Wrong, About Antidepressants
- Dionys Fuster
- Jul 8
- 4 min read
If a Headline Made You Want to Stop Your Medication, Please Read This First
If you take an antidepressant and something in the news made your stomach drop, start here.
Do not stop your antidepressant medication because of a headline.
Not today, and not on your own.
If you finally feel like yourself again, that steadiness you worked hard for is worth protecting.
A news cycle is not a treatment plan.
So let's talk about what was actually said, what holds up, and what does not.
First, here is what he said:
What He Got Dangerously Wrong About Antidepressants
On May 4, 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a plan to reduce overprescribing and to support safer ways to come off these medications when the time is right.
Some of that is reasonable. We will get there.
But the parts that traveled fastest were the parts that scared people the most.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that coming off these medications is “worse than heroin.” He also tied them to school shootings.
I want to be calm and clear about this. Neither claim holds up.
Fear from a podium is not evidence.
Addiction specialists have pushed back hard on the heroin comparison. Coming off an antidepressant is not the same as withdrawing from an addictive drug. There are no drug cravings pulling you back to it. Your body reacts to the change, and that is real, but it is a different thing entirely.
And there is no solid evidence linking these medications to mass shootings. Saying it from a government podium does not make it true. It makes steady people panic.
That panic is where the real danger lives.
Why Stopping Suddenly Is the Real Risk
When someone hears that a medication is dangerous, the instinct is to stop right away. All at once. Cold.
That is the part that worries me.
What we actually know from research is this. Stopping suddenly, alone, with no plan, makes it much more likely that the depression comes back.
Coming off too fast can also make your body react for a little while. Dizziness. Trouble sleeping. A flu-like, run-down feeling.
Those effects usually ease when the change is slow and planned instead of sudden.
Coming off an antidepressant can be the right move for a lot of people. It should be slow. It should be planned. And it should happen with someone walking beside you, not in a rush after a news alert. That is what real medication management is for.
What He Actually Got Right
Now the honest part.
Not everything in that announcement was wrong. Some of it named a real problem, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Too many people were handed one of these medications and were not told how long they might need it, or how to come off when the time came.
That is a real failure. I have seen it up close.
The plan pointed at a few things that are simply good care:
Clear consent: Telling people plainly what a medication does, and how long they may need it, before they start.
Slow tapering: Coming off gradually and with support, not all at once.
Paid time: A new path that pays providers for the hours it takes to help someone taper safely.
Whole-person support: More room for therapy, sleep, nutrition, and movement, not a prescription as the only answer.
I agree with all of that. Naming it is honesty, not endorsement.
The Real Problem Was Never the Pills
Here is where I want to land.
About 1 in 6 American adults take an antidepressant. That is a lot of people to frighten with one soundbite.
But the real problem was never the medication itself.
The real problem is that most people got that prescription in about eight minutes, from someone who had no time to explain anything.
No conversation about how long. No plan for coming off. No one to call when it felt wrong.
You do not fix a rushed system by scaring people away from care.
You fix it with time.
That is the reason SoléMar exists. First visits here run a full sixty minutes, not eight. We talk about why you are starting something, what it does, and what coming off it would look like down the road, long before you ever need that plan.
Care that takes depression seriously cannot happen in a doorway on the way to the next patient.
If You Are Scared Right Now, This Part Is for You
If you are steady for the first time in a long while and a headline made you want to throw it all away, this is for you.
If you have been wondering whether it is time to come off, and now you feel rushed into deciding, this is for you.
If someone you love takes one of these medications and you are frightened for them, this is for you too.
You are allowed to ask questions. You are allowed to want off. You are allowed to want to stay on.
What you deserve is a real plan and a real person, not a decision made alone at 2 a.m. because of the news.
Let's Have the Real Conversation to Properly Stop Your Antidepressants
If any of this stirred something up, let's look at it together.
We accept major commercial insurance, and we see patients over secure telehealth across Florida.
You can book a visit here, and we will go through your situation calmly, with the time it actually deserves.
About the author: Dionys Fuster, PMHNP-BC, is the founder of SoléMar Psychiatry in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who works closely with primary care physicians throughout Palm Beach County. SoléMar offers 60-minute initial evaluations for adults, accepts major Florida commercial insurance plans, and provides bilingual care in English and Spanish. In-person appointments are available in West Palm Beach; telehealth is available across Florida.
For informational and educational purposes only. This post is not a substitute for psychiatric care, medication management, diagnosis, or treatment, and it is not medical advice about your specific situation. Never start, stop, or change a medication without talking to your provider. If you are in crisis, call 911 or call/text 988, or go to your nearest emergency room. SoléMar Psychiatry is not a crisis service.
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