Are SSRIs Being Overprescribed?

About this episode:  

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are the most widely used class of antidepressants. While these medications have undoubtedly saved lives, they have also gained scrutiny for having significant side effects and being difficult to taper off of. In this episode: Two psychiatrists talk about the existing recommendations for deprescribing and why SSRIs remain a critical treatment tool despite pressure from federal health officials to wean Americans off of them.

Guest: 

Dr. Paul Nestadt is an associate professor of Mental Health who studies the epidemiology of suicide and serves as the primary supervising psychiatrist for the Johns Hopkins Hospital Anxiety Disorders Clinic.

Dr. Jimmy Potash, MPH, is the director of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Host: 

Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.

Show links and related content: 

• Kennedy Starts a Push to Help Americans Quit Antidepressants—The New York Times

• Prescriptions for Antidepressants Increasing among Individuals with no Psychiatric Diagnosis—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Tapering of SSRI treatment to mitigate withdrawal symptoms—Lancet Psychiatry

• Changes in antidepressant use by young people and suicidal behavior after FDA warnings and media coverage: quasi-experimental study—BMJ

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Older Adults in Primary Care—JAMA

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