RFK Said SSRIs Are Harder to Quit Than Heroin. I’ve Treated Both. Here’s the Truth.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, claimed that withdrawing from antidepressants is more severe than heroin withdrawal, prompting a viral backlash. His office subsequently unveiled a “MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” urging non‑pharmacologic treatments for depression. Dr. Jake Goodman, a board‑certified psychiatrist, counters the claim with clinical experience and a 2024 Lancet Psychiatry meta‑analysis showing severe SSRI discontinuation occurs in only about 3% of patients. He emphasizes that opioid withdrawal affects roughly 85% of users without medication support, highlighting a stark disparity in severity and prevalence.
How I Help Patients Safely Get Off Medications They No Longer Need
Psychiatrist Jake Goodman outlines his deprescribing framework, showing how he safely tapers patients off long‑term benzodiazepines, Z‑drugs, and over‑the‑counter sleep aids. Using a compounding pharmacy, he creates micro‑dose reductions to avoid withdrawal seizures, rebound anxiety, and cognitive fog. He stresses...
The Medications Quietly Harming Your Brain (And the Ones Getting Unfairly Blamed)
A psychiatrist highlights that over‑the‑counter sleep aids like diphenhydramine and chronic use of prescription sedatives pose measurable long‑term cognitive risks, often exceeding the danger of untreated insomnia. He contrasts these with antidepressants, which he argues are generally safe for brain...
How to Protect Your Brain in a Digital World
The average adult now spends roughly seven hours a day staring at screens, a figure that ranges from four to ten hours depending on the study. This constant exposure fragments attention, triggers dopamine‑driven novelty loops, and disrupts sleep through blue‑light...
Your Brain Fog Might Actually Be Burnout
A recent Substack post explains that the common complaint of "brain fog" is often a manifestation of burnout rather than a neurological disease. The author, a psychiatrist, describes how prolonged high workloads, minimal breaks, and chronic stress overload the brain’s...