Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed the church shooting in Minneapolis that killed two children and wounded 18 others on SSRIs, a type of antidepressant medication — but experts say those drugs are “not the problem.”
During an appearance on Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Kennedy whether the government would look into medications that treat gender dysphoria in violent crimes, referencing Annunciation Catholic School shooter Robert Westman, who was assigned male at birth and legally changed their name as a teen to reflect a female identity, according to NBC.
Even though authorities have not confirmed that the shooter was taking psychiatric medication or SSRIs, Kennedy said the National Institute of Health was “launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.”
“We can’t exclude those as a culprit,” Kennedy said, claiming some medications come with “black box warnings that warn of suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation.”
While some prescription drugs include warnings about suicidal thoughts, no SSRI currently lists homicidal thoughts as a risk. Also, SSRIs are not commonly prescribed for people transitioning.
SSRI — short for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — work by increasing serotonin in the brain. As the Cleveland Clinic explains, they are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, with more than 1 in 10 people taking them for depression or anxiety.
“All the data suggest SSRIs are not the problem,” Ragy R. Girgis, a professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute, told The Washington Post.
Westman wrote in a journal about struggles with depression, per CNN. It has not been confirmed whether the shooter, who turned the gun on himself after the murders, was on an SSRI. Westman had a history of interest in mass murderers and praised Adolf Hitler, Time reports, and had graduated from Annunciation Catholic School before opening fire on the children gathered there.
While mood disorders — the reason people take SSRIs — can cause violence, studies show the medication itself is not usually the cause. One study did find a “small group of patients” might become more violent on the drugs, but the majority of SSRI users do not commit violent crimes.
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith reacted to Kennedy’s statements on X, writing, “I dare you to go to Annunciation School and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns don’t kill kids, antidepressants do.”
“Just shut up. Stop peddling b——-. You should be fired.”
