It is no secret that RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, doesn’t like psychiatrists, and he has had good reason, based upon his personal life experiences. For example, his aunt, Rosemary Kennedy, was treated with a prefrontal lobotomy at age 23 in 1941, a dark chapter in the history of psychiatry which left her institutionalized for life. He credits his own recovery from addiction to abstinence-based 12-step programs, focusing on spiritual principles and peer support, rather than on psychiatrists or medication.

So, it is no surprise that he is drawn to curtailing psychiatrists’ powers. And he has begun to do so, with the recent MAHA Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit. His first target for his “deprescribing” initiative is SSRI anti-depressants. RFK Jr.’s heart is in the right place, but he has no idea of the hornet’s nest he’s walking into because he was not on the front lines of psychiatry for decades, as I have been. The American Psychiatric Association is already fighting back, and a look at the historical context explains why. ….

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