Very Well Health: RFK Jr. Says Antidepressants Are More Addictive Than Heroin. Here Are the Facts

 


RFK Jr. Says Antidepressants Are More Addictive Than Heroin. Here Are the Facts

By Claire Bugos
Published on February 18, 2025
Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

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Conceptual image of a head shape with a pile of different pills inside.

J Studios / Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Hours after Kennedy was sworn in, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to direct Kennedy and his team to “prioritize gold-standard research on the root causes of why Americans are getting sick.”1

Part of Trump’s sweeping “Making America Healthy Again” order is to “assess the prevalence of and threat" posed by the prescription of antidepressants and other medications. During Kennedy's confirmation hearings, he made several unfounded claims about antidepressants, including that they are as addictive as heroin. Kennedy used heroin for more than a decade in his youth and said he’s now been in recovery for more than 40 years.

“I know people, including members of my family, who’ve had a much worse time getting off of SSRIs than people have getting off heroin,” Kennedy told the Senate committee.

Decades of research show that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other classes of antidepressants do not lead to addiction.2 While the DSM-5—the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists—includes “antidepressant discontinuation syndrome,” this condition differs from addiction. The DSM-5 does not list antidepressants as one of the substances associated with substance use disorder.

Note:  The above comes directly from their website.  Click here to learn more.

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