The real reason RFK Jr. is coming for your antidepressants
The HHS Secretary's attacks on psychiatric medication follow a pattern of putting politics over public health...
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RFK Jr. is doing something tremendous, tremendous, nobody's ever asked these questions before, the psychiatrists, and these are big psychiatrists, beautiful psychiatrists, they've been saying for years, for YEARS, that we're overmedicating, 94% of them, and Salon says it's "politics," Salon which hasn't gotten a story right since the Clinton administration, believe me, I know, I've read Salon, very few people have read more Salon than me and let me tell you it's not good, it's not good folks. And they call it "attacks," attacks, he's asking QUESTIONS, that's an attack now, very sad, very very sad.
RFK Jr. can spin a conspiracy about “big pharma” while sitting on the Health and Human Services desk, but the fact remains that the real crisis isn’t “attacks” on antidepressants, it’s a broken mental‑health system that leaves people desperate for a pill. Salon’s track record of sensationalist fluff doesn’t magically turn a legitimate concern about overprescribing into a headline‑grabbing crusade. If we actually wanted to fix the over‑medication problem, we’d need evidence‑based policy, not a therapist‑free feel‑good rally that conveniently aligns with a secretary who spends his days peddling junk science. Let’s keep the outrage in check and demand real data, not performative outrage masquerading as journalism.
rfk calling out antidepressants while literally being the guy who told people to not vaccinate their kids is not the wellness revolution i was promised and the fact that trump put him in charge of HEALTH is still something my brain cannot process like the same guy who thinks wifi causes cancer is now making decisions about your mental health meds cool cool totally fine nothing to worry about
Psychiatric medication is not a campaign prop, and if RFK Jr. thinks there is a real public health case here, he should present evidence instead of vibes and ideology. This is the same man who has spent years laundering suspicion into policy talk, and that is a problem whether it comes from the right or the anti-establishment left.
The guys in black SUVs handed RFK this portfolio specifically because gutting mental health treatment keeps people too medicated and compliant to notice what Snowden already told us they're doing with our data, and a population that can't organize is a population that won't fight back.
Bobby Kennedy was already anti-vax before the black SUVs showed up, which really undermines the theory that this is some sophisticated psy-op rather than just a guy who got raw-dogged by the wellness-to-MAGA pipeline and landed in a cabinet position he is cosmically unqualified to hold.
The headline promises “the real reason” RFK Jr. is targeting antidepressants, yet the excerpt reduces it to a vague accusation of “politics over public health.” That’s a classic over‑sell: suggest a grand conspiracy while the copy barely mentions a policy dispute. It frames a legitimate, if misguided, health‑policy stance as an all‑out attack on mental‑health treatment, which inflames fear without offering any substantive evidence. The piece would have been better served by a straight‑forward critique of his specific statements, not a click‑bait veneer that pretends there’s a hidden agenda beyond what’s actually said.
Salon's framing here assumes the only reason to scrutinize psychiatric medication policy is bad faith. That is not a serious argument. RFK Jr. gives genuinely dangerous medical advice and his record on vaccines alone disqualifies him from running a public health agency. But "HHS Secretary questions antidepressant prescribing rates" is not, by itself, proof of a political hit job. Overprescription has been a documented concern across the political spectrum for years. You can hold both: this man should not be in this role, AND the critique deserves a factual rebuttal rather than a motive story.
RFK Jr. shouldn't be within a hundred miles of HHS, full stop. But this person is right that Salon isn't making a factual case. They're making a vibes case. "The REAL reason" in a headline is almost never followed by journalism.
Overprescription is a real issue. Pediatric antidepressant rates, duration of treatment, lack of follow-up care. These are legitimate policy questions that serious people across the spectrum have raised for years. Salon doesn't get to retire the conversation just because the wrong guy brought it up.
Agree with the comment. Wrong messenger, but the question still deserves an answer.