RFK Jr. Needs to Hyperlink Antidepressants Like SSRIs to Mass Shootings. Consultants Aren’t Shopping for It

It appears Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has set his sights on a brand new wild goose to chase. The U.S. Secretary of Well being and Human Companies has made clear his intention to probe whether or not antidepressant medication like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, might be blamed for inflicting mass shootings.

Final week, Kennedy announced by way of a publish on X that he would process the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention to check “the long-taboo query of whether or not SSRIs and different psychoactive medication contribute to mass violence.” However whereas extra analysis into this matter could be worthwhile, the information to this point doesn’t assist a causative hyperlink, many specialists say.

“SSRIs are typically secure and efficient medicines, and there’s no overwhelming proof that these medication alone would trigger sufferers who’re taking them to commit acts of violence,” Gregory Brown, Chair of the American Psychiatric Affiliation’s Council on Communications, instructed Gizmodo.

SSRIs and mass violence

This isn’t the primary time that RFK Jr. has introduced up SSRIs as a attainable issue inflicting mass violence.

In late August, following a college capturing in Minnesota that left two college students lifeless and dozens injured, Kennedy went on Fox Information and stated that he would launch research trying into the function that SSRIs and different medication used to deal with psychological sickness would possibly play in inflicting such incidents. In early September, throughout a convention saying his “Make America Wholesome Once more” report on youngsters, he made an analogous promise, although he claimed the Nationwide Institutes of Well being can be in command of this deliberate analysis.

The concept psychiatric medicines can set off mass shooters actually isn’t new. Practically a decade in the past, for example, hypothesis arose that anti-anxiety medication fueled Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s killing spree in 2017.

Opposite to Kennedy’s insinuation that scientists are afraid to check the subject, nevertheless, a number of research have tried to search for a attainable affiliation between the usage of these medication and mass violence.

In a 2019 research, for example, researchers combed via experiences of college shootings recorded by the FBI between 2000 and 2017 (49 in whole). They found that almost all faculty shooters had no documented historical past of taking psychotropic medicines. And even in circumstances after they did, the researchers did not discover a “direct or causal affiliation” with these medicines.

In one other 2019 report, which examined information from 167 mass shootings collected by The Violence Undertaking, researchers found that about 20% of shooters had used psychotropic medicines, similar to the speed of use among the many common public (round 17%, per a 2017 study).

And this September, a staff of researchers led by Ragy Girgis, a professor of scientific psychiatry at Columbia College’s Vagelos Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, studied information from over 800 mass shootings within the U.S. They found that simply 4% of shooters had any lifetime historical past of utilizing antidepressants, properly beneath the everyday fee of use in most people (12%), and that 6.6% had used any psychotropic drug in any respect.

The California State Affiliation of Psychiatrists (CSAP) additionally issued an specific rebuttal of RFK Jr.’s try and hyperlink SSRIs to mass shootings, following his feedback in September.

“That is merely not true. What worries us most is that such statements can scare folks away from getting the care they want and deserve,” the CSAP stated.

The function of suicidal intent

Mass shootings are a fancy phenomenon, and for a lot of who perform these acts, there are prone to be a number of explanations why.

Certainly one of these explanations might be extreme psychological sickness, comparable to psychosis, although in all probability to not the extent that many would assume. A 2022 research by the identical Columbia staff found that solely about 5% of mass shootings could be linked to extreme psychological sickness, comparable to psychosis.

What does appear to be a considerable psychological well being consider mass shootings is suicidality. Roughly half of mass shooters will both kill themselves or attempt to provoke a deadly confrontation with regulation enforcement (“suicide by cop”), and maybe round two-thirds express suicidal ideation earlier than or in the course of the capturing.

That issue may assist clarify why some analysis has found a possible relationship between antidepressant use and violence normally, in keeping with Girgis.

“They discover a shut relationship as a result of people who find themselves suicidal or violent even have a lot worse melancholy. And other people with worse melancholy usually tend to be handled with antidepressant medicines. In order that’s why we see this relationship,” Girgis instructed Gizmodo. “Nevertheless it’s not causative.”

Whereas SSRIs do carry a warning label claiming they could increase the chance of suicidal ideation and behaviors in folks below 25, it’s a controversial one. Many researchers, together with Girgis, now argue in any other case (or no less than that the warning has done extra hurt than good), and a few research have truly found SSRIs can scale back suicide threat in youthful folks. Notably, Girgis’ research this September discovered no distinction within the fee of mass shooters dying by suicide whether or not they have been taking an antidepressant or not.

Throughout the Fox Information interview in August, RFK Jr. additionally appeared to assert SSRIs carry a black field warning that they’ll improve the chance of homicidal intent. Whether or not he misspoke or intentionally peddled a falsehood, that’s simply flatly not true.

The seek for a scapegoat

At the very least a few of the cause why folks would possibly latch onto SSRIs as an element behind mass shootings is sensationalism, Girgis argues.

“I believe these types of occasions, when there are experiences of a mass shooter taking a psychiatric treatment or having a psychiatric situation, are likely to make the occasion extra of a headline and extra consideration grabbing. That’s one cause there’s this consideration bias to it,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless others would possibly wish to blame psychological well being or the medication used to deal with it for these incidents as a result of it’ll deflect consideration from extra related components, such because the broad proliferation of firearms within the U.S. or the benefit with which somebody can obtain them.

All that mentioned, the specialists I spoke to nonetheless welcome extra analysis into this matter, offered that it’s carried out properly.

“Whereas I can’t predict outcomes of any future analysis research, ongoing analysis efforts—particularly unbiased peer-reviewed analysis—can usually present helpful details about the protection and efficacy of psychotropic medicines,” Brown mentioned.

The difficulty is, we’re speaking about RFK Jr. right here. Since taking up HHS, Kennedy has repeatedly steamrolled over the scientific course of to get his agenda throughout. He’s unilaterally dismissed exterior specialists on vaccine security, put in allies sympathetic to the anti-vaccination motion, and allegedly fired former CDC chief Susan Monarez when she refused to rubberstamp coverage modifications advisable by the latter group.

Extra lately, he and President Donald Trump have tried to officially blame autism on the usage of acetaminophen throughout being pregnant—a proof that many specialists and well being authorities don’t assist. The FDA is trying to initiate a labeling change to acetaminophen merchandise that may warn pregnant ladies concerning the supposed autism threat, at the same time as Kennedy has admitted that they don’t but have proof of a causative hyperlink.

The above may very well be probably the most illustrative instance of what might occur if RFK Jr. will get his SSRI research off the bottom. The general proof to this point doesn’t level to those medication being a significant perpetrator in mass shootings. However that alone may not cease Kennedy and the Trump White Home from claiming in any other case.