Incoming HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the Right Guy to Clean up the Mental Health Crisis

November 19, 2024

With the recent nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as the next Secretary of the federal health behemoth, the Department of Health and Human Services, the time has come for a thorough investigation into the connection between psychiatric drugs and mass shootings.  The incoming Secretary seems open to such an investigation.

During a Turkish state-owned TRT World interview, Kennedy argued that “other causes needed to be studied, such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), commonly used as antidepressants, and video games” in relation to mass shootings. In addition, during a conversation discussing mass shootings with Elon Musk, Kennedy mentioned that “before Prozac was introduced, we had almost none of these events.”  

And it appears that Kennedy understands the difference between the broader issues of what constitutes disease. Kennedy has mentioned “neurological diseases” as part of the health issues affecting children as well as “other conditions” contributing to children’s health. It is time for accountability. The psycho/pharmaceutical industry must provide the science to support its psychiatric disorders.  The lack of biological-based science within the mental health field needs to be exposed or there is no informed consent.

Who could be better suited than RFK Jr. to reform the policies of his potentially well-meaning family members, especially considering the mental health model has substantially increased mental illness to the point of a crisis.  U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and former Rhode Island Congressman, Patrick Kennedy championed the controversial mental health parity legislation. It also just so happens that Patrick Kennedy is the founder of The Kennedy Forum (TKF), which works to “bring closer the future where mental illness and substance use disorder are prevented when possible and, when not, treated effectively and equally…” 

In other words, TKF looks to prevent mental illness and substance use disorder and if that’s not possible, then TKF works to “treat” the mental illnesses and substance use disorders “effectively and equally.” And it also just so happens that TKF is closely linked to another mental health organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which also advocates for mental health treatment parity.

Parity simply means that mental health conditions will be covered by insurance on par with real medical diseases. The problem with this concept is that psychiatric diagnosing is not based in science. There is no objective, confirmable abnormality in the brain that is any psychiatric diagnosis. There is no blood or urine test or any type of scan including CAT, X-ray or PET that will reveal a single alleged psychiatric diagnosis, making the psychiatric diagnosis as simple as asking questions of patients. The answers provided are compared to a set of criteria listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM5). Voila! Based on verbal answers, mental disorder diagnosis is assigned.

It is of interest that NAMI considers itself the “nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization.” It well may be. But, if NAMI is this exalted mental health organization it reports to be, one might expect it to provide consistent, accurate information. Unfortunately, NAMI along with TKF, plays fast and loose with what constitutes mental illness and allows no alternative voices to be heard and has total influence on public policy.

For example, on its website, NAMI admits that “unlike diabetes or cancer there is no medical test that can provide a diagnosis of mental illness.” Perfect. Absolutely accurate. But, on the other hand, NAMI also promotes a booklet about how to appeal mental health insurance denials, The Health Insurance Appeals Guide, that provides completely different information. NAMI has partnered with TKF and in the Insurance Guide it states “Treating diseases of the brain is as important as treating any physical ailment or condition. Yet, the health insurance system in the United States has never covered mental health and substance use disorders appropriately.  As a result, depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health conditions often go unaddressed…”

Did you catch how clever these organizations are with mental health information? Just slip “disease” in the first sentence so that everyone is misled into believing that depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health conditions are real diseases of the brain.  This example of inaccurate information provided by NAMI and TKF has been going on for decades by mental health advocates and the psychiatric industry.

The fact is, if medical doctors were dealing with “diseases of the brain” then the conversation would be about neurology not psychiatry. There would be an objective, confirmable abnormality that a neurologist (a doctor who treats diseases of the brain) would diagnose. Psychiatry deals in behavior not neurologic disease.

And, given that RFK Jr. is a stickler for science, as evidenced by his arguably legitimate attack on vaccine makers, whether mental illness is a disease is important on a life and death scale. Afterall, once a psychiatric diagnosis is made, based on prescribing data, the patient is provided a psychiatric mind-altering drug(s) as “treatment.”

And, as if the mental illness diagnoses not being based in science isn’t bad enough, the alleged “treatments” are equally wanting when it comes science. For instance, if one were to review all of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), also known as antidepressants, one would soon realize that the pharmaceutical companies have no idea, are clueless, about how these “treatments” work in the brain to “treat” the alleged disorder.

In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which approves the antidepressants reports it this way “the mechanism of action of sertraline (Zoloft) is presumed to be linked to its inhibition of CNS neuronal uptake of serotonin.” The FDA “presumes” the drug works a certain way. The federal drug approval agency doesn’t know how the drug works in the brain because the pharmaceutical company doesn’t know how the drug works. It is not the FDA’s responsibility to determine how a drug works in the brain.

But what is known is that these drug “treatments” have serious adverse events associated with them. Neither the NAMI nor TKF websites provide information about the drug “treatment” adverse events.  What are some of those adverse events? Well, staying with the Sertraline (Zoloft) example aggressive reaction, confusion, agitation, anxiety, depersonalization, depression, abnormal dreams, abnormal thinking, hallucination, paranoia, psychotic disorder, psychosis, and suicidality all are possible adverse events associated with this antidepressant “treatment.”

Given RFK Junior’s insistence for science to backup medical claims, one would expect that his oversight of federal health agencies might include the serious questions he raised about what is causing the nation’s mental health “crisis.”

In fact, RFK’s questions may begin with could the rise in diagnosing mental illnesses and increased psychiatric drugging have a direct correlation with the nation’s deteriorating health?  When confirmed, the incoming Secretary could seriously question why mental health diagnosis and “treatment” are at all-time highs, yet no one appears to be getting better.

Both NAMI and TKF are well-funded and on schedule to have mental health at the door of every school in America, providing mental health to America’s children whether it’s needed or not. The in-coming Health and Human Services Secretary has the ability to shine some light on the non-scientific mental health industry and provide some truth to the American people.

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