“This federal shift toward deprescribing, transparency, and holistic approaches marks a long-overdue correction. By confronting mass prescribing head-on and prioritizing patient safety, it offers real hope for safeguarding lives and restoring genuine health care.” – Jan Eastgate, President CCHR International

New federal actions emphasize informed consent, holistic care, and protection for children and adults from psychiatric drug risks—but broader access to deprescribing support remains essential

By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
May 11, 2026

A recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement to curb psychiatric drug overprescribing is a welcome and significant step toward protecting the nearly 77 million Americans prescribed these drugs. On May 4, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stated: “Today, we take clear and decisive action to confront our nation’s mental health crisis by addressing the overuse of psychiatric medications—especially among children. We will support patient autonomy, require informed consent and shared decision-making, and shift the standard of care toward prevention, transparency, and a more holistic approach to mental health.”[1]

HHS agencies will pool their expertise to evaluate prescription patterns for psychiatric drugs and include identifying potential harms. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance on reimbursement for deprescribing care, drug tapering plans, and monitoring.[2] However, this is currently available only to Medicare patients and uses existing reimbursement rates and codes under Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule.[3] The guidance does not extend to Medicaid, which accounts for one quarter of all U.S. spending on mental health and substance abuse treatment services.[4] States are not required to cover deprescribing services in their Medicaid programs, resulting in highly variable coverage.[5]

In a companion May 4 “Dear Colleague” letter, four HHS divisions—CMS, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)—urged health care providers to fully inform patients of risks and benefits before prescribing. The letter stresses: “Individuals should receive clear, understandable information regarding the potential benefits and risks of psychiatric medications at initiation, during ongoing treatment, and when discontinuation is being considered.” It further emphasizes providing information on potential discontinuation symptoms and the need for close clinical monitoring during tapering.

The “Dear Colleague” letter also highlights existing billing codes for non-pharmacological treatments that may be billable under private insurance or state Medicaid programs, although coverage for these services varies significantly by state and requires verification with the specific payer.[6]

For the large majority of physicians who primarily treat patients with private insurance, cash-pay, or other non-Medicare coverage, the CMS guidance will have minimal immediate practical impact. These clinicians are expected to continue relying on existing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug labeling and professional society guidelines for tapering decisions.[7] Importantly, CMS explicitly directs clinicians to the FDA’s current drug label instructions for taper schedules, and there is no indication that the FDA will develop new tapering or deprescribing guidelines.[8]This creates a significant gap: CMS is actively supporting deprescribing for Medicare patients, while the FDA—whose labeling guides most non-Medicare prescribing—is not updating or being required to update its tapering and deprescribing guidance in alignment.

HHS will lead the development of formal department-wide clinical guidance on appropriate use, tapering, and discontinuation via a Technical Expert Panel convening in July 2026.[9] 

CCHR supports this goal and calls for stronger, more accessible FDA Medication Guides (MedGuides)—fact sheets that deliver essential, easy-to-understand safety information and the most serious side effects. While pharmacists must currently distribute these with certain prescriptions, CCHR urges that the requirement begin with prescribing doctors, with patients required to sign an acknowledgment of receipt as part of genuine informed consent.

SAMHSA and HRSA will also host a joint webinar for Federally Qualified Health Center providers on holistic care, non-medication treatments, and clinically indicated deprescribing and tapering of psychiatric drugs.

This initiative follows years of international concern, particularly over antidepressants. In 2024, the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) called for deprescribing and reduced use of antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs, citing high patient numbers and associated costs to the National Health Service. Its report, Shifting the Balance Towards Social Interventions: A Call for an Overhaul of the Mental Health System, recommended establishing drug deprescribing services and a national withdrawal support helpline.[10]

Withdrawal Risks Need to be Broadly Known

Speakers at the MAHA mental health summit, where Kennedy made the announcement, included Kim Witczak, a Drug Safety Advocate and FDA Advisory Committee Member; Lauren Friedman, a senior at Vanderbilt University, living with the emotional blunting effects following antidepressant use; Jeffrey Lacasse, Ph.D., Researcher and Educator; and Mark Horowitz, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Adelaide University.[11]

At a prior conference, Dr. Horowitz reported that long-term antidepressant use can produce physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms, making it difficult or nearly impossible to endure. These effects can persist far longer than the time required for the drug to leave the system. “It’s not the time taken for the drug to leave the system that determines the length of the effect. It’s the time taken for the system to readapt to the drug not being there that explains how long withdrawal symptoms can last.” Dr. Horowitz further explained: “We know that these are symptoms of withdrawal and not just relapse (a return of someone’s underlying condition), because they have been found in studies of people who stopped antidepressants with no underlying mental health conditions.” He reported one striking finding from studies: While 30% of those taking the drugs were suicidal before starting medication, 60% became suicidal after stopping—meaning 30% experienced suicidal thoughts for the first time due to withdrawal effects.[12]

Opening the Door for Improved Informed Consent

The HHS initiative promises greater transparency for information that CCHR says has often been withheld or minimized through pharmaceutical marketing and off-label prescribing:

• In 2020, a study in the International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine found that nearly every medical website and resource on antidepressant side effects significantly downplayed the risks, with benefit-harm listings repeatedly conflicting with scientific evidence.[13]

• Dr. Roger McFillan notes that antidepressants today “are doled out for an alarming array of off-label conditions: gastrointestinal issues, fibromyalgia, grief, chronic pain, and eating disorders, to name but a few.”[14]

• Psychotropics are also used for non-psychiatric conditions that can still affect behavior and cognition. Benzodiazepines, for example, are prescribed for muscle spasticity, convulsive disorders, presurgical sedation, involuntary movement disorders, alcohol detoxification, and anxiety linked to cardiovascular or gastrointestinal issues.[15]

• Antidepressant-induced emotional blunting (AIEB) affects an estimated 40–60% of users, who report diminished ability to feel both positive and negative emotions. Many describe feeling “numb,” “flattened,” “blocked,” or detached—as if observing their own lives rather than participating in them.[16]

• Withdrawal effects can severely impair behavior and judgment. The Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry warns: “Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs can be disabling and can cause a range of severe physical and psychological effects which often last for months and sometimes years….”[17]

• Because psychotropic drugs cross the blood–brain barrier, they directly alter central nervous system function. Concurrent use can heighten neurological and behavioral risks. In 2024, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that approximately 26% of young people taking psychotropics faced major drug-interaction risks—most commonly involving antidepressants and antipsychotics. Nearly half of antipsychotic users and just under half of antidepressant users had at least one such risk, including abnormal heart rhythms, excessive sedation, or serotonin toxicity.[18]

Overall, the HHS plan is a giant step forward in addressing mass psychiatric drug prescribing, currently impacting over 76.9 million lives in the nation. It represents a targeted, pragmatic first step focused on Medicare-enabled deprescribing support and long-term guidance development, while maintaining a voluntary, individualized, and non-coercive framework. It stops short of transformative changes such as new billing codes, uniform federal standards, FDA updates, or broad Medicaid alignment. The emphasis on shared decision-making and holistic care is a notable positive for patient-centered care, though the gradual pace and limited reach beyond Medicare have drawn comment.

APA’s Self-Interest Response to the Initiative Misses the Core Issue

CCHR will call on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) at its annual meeting in San Francisco on May 16 to fully support the HHS initiative and commit to ending all coercive prescribing of psychotropic drugs. While the APA has expressed theoretical support for the HHS’s focus on research and clinician training in prescribing and deprescribing, the organization has responded by primarily asserting a need for a larger psychiatric workforce and more inpatient beds. It has also opposed raising the bar for informed consent in mental health treatment, arguing that such stronger safeguards would “harm patients.”[19]

This response misses the central issue. Increasing the number of psychiatrists and hospital beds is as irrelevant to solving the problem as building more emergency rooms and hiring more doctors to prescribe opioids. The core problem lies in the inherent risks of psychiatric drugs themselves—including addiction, severe withdrawal, and other serious adverse effects—not in the quantity of prescribers or beds. Funding and policy efforts should instead prioritize safe, medically supervised tapering programs and non-drug alternatives to help patients successfully discontinue these drugs and lead healthier lives.

CCHR’s Long-Term Public Awareness Campaign

For decades, CCHR has exposed the risks of psychotropic drugs, particularly for children. Drawing on the IQVia Total Patient Tracker Database for 2020, it highlighted that 6.1 million 0-17-year-olds were taking psychiatric drugs:

• 85,003 infants aged 0–1
• 138,822 toddlers aged 2–3
• 215,120 preschoolers aged 4–5
• 2,652,554 6-12 years
• 3,188,988 13-17 years.[20]

Since its founding in 1969, CCHR has run sustained public awareness campaigns on psychotropic risks and the critical need for thorough informed consent and safe tapering. Its Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right to full written disclosure of risks, side effects, and alternatives.[21]

Additional actions include:

• Investigating and exposing cases where Child Protective Services offices filed criminal charges against parents who refused to drug their children, labeling it “medical neglect.” CCHR’s efforts helped secure laws in six states to stop this practice.[22]

• Testifying on September 26, 2002, before a U.S. House Government Reform Committee hearing on the “Overmedication of Hyperactive Children,” chaired by Congressman Dan Burton.[23]

• Driving the introduction and passage of the Prohibition of Mandatory Medication Amendment in 2004, which prevents schools from requiring psychotropic drug use for a child’s education.[24]

• In 2009, Mexico enacted a similar federal prohibition based on the U.S. law.[25]

• Joining parents, families, attorneys, and doctors in 2004 to pressure the FDA into adding a Black Box warning on suicidal risks for antidepressants.

• Amplifying mothers’ stories of children who died by suicide while on psychiatric drugs through its documentary Dead Wrong: How Psychiatric Drugs Can Kill Your Child—a message that remains urgently relevant today.

• Launching the FightForKids parent resource website, which links parents to protective laws against forced psychotropic drugging.[26]

• Maintaining a Parents Rights page with a printable Parent’s Exemption Form Prior to Mental Health and Psychological Screening or Counseling to help families opt out of school mental health screening or counseling that could lead to drug recommendations.[27] 

• Providing an online psychiatric drug side effects search engine and regularly posting new studies, regulatory warnings, tapering guidance, and alternatives on its website.[28]

The HHS announcement is groundbreaking in its potential to reduce the dangerous levels of psychotropic drug reliance in the U.S. This overreliance has contributed to long-term health risks, including diabetes, cardiovascular problems, sexual dysfunction, and much more. Increased use of MedGuides, mandated to be provided by prescribing doctors with signed patient acknowledgment, would add to this vital step toward true informed consent and safer care.

In summary, this federal shift toward deprescribing, transparency, and holistic approaches marks a long-overdue correction. By confronting mass prescribing head-on and prioritizing patient safety, it offers real hope for safeguarding lives and restoring genuine health care.

[1] “HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 4 May 2026, https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-launches-maha-action-plan-curb-psychiatric-overprescribing.html

[2] Zachary Stieber, “RFK Jr. Announces New Plan to Tackle ‘Overmedicalization’ of Psychiatric Care,” Epoch Times, 4 May 2026, https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/rfk-jr-announces-new-plan-to-tackle-overmedicalization-of-psychiatric-care-6021052

[3] CMS Billing Guidance PDF, Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services, 4 May 2026, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/billing-supervised-medication-deprescribing-services-under-pfs.pdf

[4] “HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” Department of Health & Human Services Press Office, 4 May 2026, https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-launches-maha-action-plan-curb-psychiatric-overprescribing.html; “New and Proposed Policies Affecting Access to Mental Health Care,” American Psychological Association, 15 Jan. 2026, https://updates.apaservices.org/new-policies-affecting-access-to-mental-health-care

[5] “HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” Department of Health & Human Services Press Office, 4 May 2026, https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-launches-maha-action-plan-curb-psychiatric-overprescribing.html; Medicaid Website, CMS, https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid

[6] “Dear Colleague Letter: Psychiatric Medication and Non-Pharmacological Treatments,” 4 May 2026, https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/dcl-psychiatric-medication-nonpharmacological-treatments.pdf

[7] “HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” Department of Health & Human Services Press Office, 4 May 2026, https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-launches-maha-action-plan-curb-psychiatric-overprescribing.html

[8] CMS Billing Guidance PDF, Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services, 4 May 2026, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/billing-supervised-medication-deprescribing-services-under-pfs.pdf

[9] “HHS Launches MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing,” Department of Health & Human Services Press Office, 4 May 2026, https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-launches-maha-action-plan-curb-psychiatric-overprescribing.html

[10] High Antidepressant Use Calls for a “De-Prescribing” De-Escalation Policy,” CCHR International, 7 June 2024,  https://www.cchrint.org/2024/06/07/high-antidepressant-use-calls-for-a-de-prescribing-de-escalation-policy/; Rachel Kelly, “Our mental health crisis won’t be solved by pills alone,” The New Statesman, 31 May 2024, https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/05/our-mental-health-crisis-wont-be-solved-by-pills-alone

[11] “Mental Health & Overmedicalization Summit,” MAHA Institute, 4 May 2026, https://www.mahainstitute.us/mhsummit

[12] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/06/07/high-antidepressant-use-calls-for-a-de-prescribing-de-escalation-policy/; “Users of Antidepressants may suffer due to Doctors not knowing new Research and Guidelines,” The European Times, 11 May 2024, https://europeantimes.news/2024/05/users-of-antidepressants-may-suffer-due-to-doctors-not-knowing-new-research-and-guidelines/

[13] “Watchdog’s Research on Psychotropic Drug Risks Expands as Usage Soars,” CCHR International, 21 Apr. 2020, https://www.cchrint.org/2020/04/21/watchdogs-research-on-psychotropic-drug-risks-expands-as-usage-soars/; Christopher Lane, PhD, “Antidepressants and Online Misinformation,” Psychology Today, 13 Apr. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/side-effects/202004/antidepressants-and-online-misinformation

[14] Dr. Roger McFillan, “How Antidepressants Are Numbing More Than Depression,” Radically Genuine, 15 Aug. 2024, https://drmcfillin.substack.com/p/how-antidepressants-are-numbing-more  

[15] Lance P. Longo, M.D., and Brian Johnson, M.D., “Addiction: Part I. Benzodiazepines—Side Effects, Abuse Risk and Alternatives,” American Family Physician, 2000, https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2000/0401/p2121.html

[16] Sebastián Malleza, M.D.  “Antidepressant-Induced Emotional Blunting: Diagnosis, Mechanisms and Management,” Psychopharmacology Institute, 29 Aug. 2025, https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/publication/antidepressant-induced-emotional-blunting-diagnosis-mechanisms-and-management-2/

[17] “Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs can be disabling and can cause a range of severe physical and psychological effects….,” Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry, 15 Mar. 2014, https://ravimid.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/psychiatric-drug-withdrawal-can-be-disabling-010314-1.pdf

[18] https://www.cchrint.org/2026/02/16/decades-of-warnings-persistent-inaction/; Lin-Chieh Meng, et al., “Trends in Psychotropic Medication Use, Polypharmacy, and Potential Major Drug–Drug Interactions Among US Youth,” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Dec. 2025, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089085672502235X?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=9c8c12455976f552; “1 in 4 young people using psychotropic drugs are taking dangerous combinations,” Penn Medicine, 4 Feb. 2026, https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/1-in-4-young-people-taking-psychotropic-drug-combinations

[19] “APA Welcomes National Focus on Mental Health, Urges Evidence-Based Approach and Continued Focus on Access to Care,” American Psychiatric Association, 4 May 2026, https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/apa-welcomes-national-focus-on-mental-health-urges

[20] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/; https://www.rxlist.com/

[21] https://www.cchrint.org/about-us/declaration-of-human-rights/

[22] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/11/07/20th-anniversary-of-fight-for-kids/

[23]https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/; https://www.rxlist.com/; https://www.cchrint.org/2010/11/18/ablechild-unsung-hero-in-battle-against-psychopharmaceutical-industry/

[24] https://www.cchrint.org/2025/03/07/protecting-parental-rights-against-screening/

[25] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/11/07/20th-anniversary-of-fight-for-kids/

[26] https://www.fightforkids.org/state-and-federal-laws-passed

[27] https://www.cchrint.org/issues/childmentaldisorders/

[28] https://www.cchrint.org/2026/03/27/psychotropic-pill-epidemic-national-adverse-drug-event-awareness-day/; https://www.cchrint.org/massdrugging-of-medicaid-children/l https://www.cchrint.org/2023/05/16/fda-finally-adds-addiction-to-black-box-warning-on-adhd-drugs/; https://www.cchrint.org/2026/04/28/cchrs-latest-report-links-145-violent-incidents-to-psychiatric-drugs/