Kennedy Unveils Plan to Reduce Psychiatric Drug Prescriptions

The nation’s top health officials used a MAHA-aligned event on Monday to preview upcoming policy efforts that bridge the movement’s cornerstone issues of informed consent and what they term overmedicalization in mental health.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that agencies across the department will partner on efforts to increase education and training, boost alternative treatment options, and reduce paperwork as part of a new action plan.

“Our goal is straightforward, to reduce unnecessary dependence on medication, to improve patient outcomes and to return control to the patients. This is how we’re going to Make America Healthy Again,” said Kennedy, one of seven officials speaking at the daylong event hosted by the MAHA Institute.

Kennedy has sought to institute many issues popular with the Make America Healthy Again movement during his time at HHS. Part of that movement’s issues include informed consent in medicine, reducing the number of drugs prescribed, and guidelines to taper off behavioral health prescription medications.

Kennedy has been critical in past remarks of the increased usage of psychiatric medications, and the new plan uses a similar playbook to his earlier priorities.

Advocates for deprescribing, such as the patients and scientists who also spoke at Monday’s event, say patients don’t know enough about the possible side effects of common antidepressants such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, or SSRIs, and should be presented with more information and options to scale back their dosages over time.

A separate letter issued Monday jointly by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Administration for Children and Families, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also encourages providers to consider other non-medication treatment options when clinically appropriate.

Informed consent has been a major talking point among vaccine skeptics and those in the MAHA movement calling for fewer vaccine requirements and looser guidelines.

The May 2025 MAHA report issued by the White House describes overmedicalization as one of four areas affecting children’s health, primarily highlighting medications used to treat mental health disorders like ADHD, depression, and anxiety.

And last month, SAMHSA issued guidance that called for reducing or tapering medication assisted treatment doses for opioid use disorder when clinically possible.

Agency officials taking actions to align with this effort Monday echoed the need to reduce the distribution of medication and encourage tapering.

Tim Westlake, chief of staff at SAMHSA, said there was a “unique opportunity with MAHA” in terms of “what can we do to drive our culture away from being a pill culture.”

SAMHSA plans to issue a report later this month on prescribing trends and release a training module in June on the risks of psychiatric medications, and on deprescribing and tapering.

Neeraj ‘Jim’ Gandotra, chief medical officer for SAMHSA, announced that the agency will hold two webinars open to thousands of providers on June 3 and July 16 in order to help providers understand and promote non-pharmacological interventions for individuals experiencing mental health symptoms.

Gandotra also said they will use standardized language in SAMHSA’s funding announcements to allow for deprescribing practices and training for providers.

Kennedy also announced that CMS is issuing billing guidance to allow providers to be reimbursed for deprescribing work.

“We are aligning policy with practice. Psychiatric medications have a role in care but we will no longer treat them as the default,” Kennedy said.

Andrea Beckel-Mitchener, acting director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Marta Sokolowska, deputy center director for substance use and behavioral health at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, called for more research into the area.

Alex Adams, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, also pointed to continued high level conversations at the HHS and upcoming meetings to further work on this issue.