MAHA Report Blurs Line Between Wrongful and Overmedication, Falsely Claims ADHD as Disease

Photo Credit Fox News
May 26, 2025
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., unveiled his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) report to tremendous fanfare, identifying issues that reportedly are contributing to the chronically poor health of the nation’s children. One category that Kennedy identifies is the deterioration of mental health of American children.

While the HHS Secretary is correct that there is a mental health “crisis” affecting America’s children, AbleChild believes that the “crisis” has less to do with “Overmedicalization” and more to do with “wrongful medicalization.”

According to Kennedy’s MAHA Report, “there is a concerning trend of overprescribing medications to children, often driven by conflicts of interest in medical research, regulation, and practice. This has led to unnecessary treatments and long-term health risks.” This conversation is slightly misleading. The “Overprescribing” has nothing to do with cancer or diabetes drug treatments for example, but rather, Kennedy, without identifying them, is talking about prescription psychiatric drugs. Why not just say that?

In fact, on page 14 of the MAHA report, Kennedy makes a point of admitting that there is a “Mental Health Crisis” listing some harrowing facts about the numbers of America’s children who are living with at least one psychiatric diagnosis.

*Teenage depression rates nearly doubled from 2009 to 2019, with more than 1 in 4 teenage girls in 2022 reporting a major depressive episode in the past year.

*Three million high school students seriously considered suicide in 2023.

*Suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds increased by 62% from 2007 to 2021, and suicide is now the second leading cause of death in teens aged 15-19.

*The prevalence of diagnosed anxiety increased by 61% among adolescents between 2016 and 2023.

*Over 57% of girls report feelings of sadness and hopelessness, while suicidal ideation in teen girls has surged by 60% since 2010.

And, to follow up these astonishing data, Kennedy reports that “American Children are highly medicated – and it’s not working.” The HHS Secretary further reports that “the health system has aggressively responded to these increases in childhood chronic disease with increasing rates of pharmaceutical drug prescriptions which may cause further harm to the health of American children when used inappropriately.” What?!

Let’s be clear. Psychiatric diagnosing is not based in science. There is no identifiable abnormality in the brain that is any psychiatric diagnosis and, therefore, none of the diagnoses are a “disease.” It’s time for honesty. Children are being drugged to control their behavior. Having the HHS Secretary incorrectly write that psychiatric diagnosing is a “chronic disease” like cancer or diabetes doesn’t help solve the problem.

Then, to add insult to injury, the HHS Secretary wrongly explains that “pharmaceutical drug prescriptions may cause harm to the health of American children when used inappropriately.” (emphasis mine) “Used Inappropriately?” Does the Secretary mean when the drugs are prescribed as “treatment” and there is no abnormality to treat? Let’s not play games. Yes, the pharmaceutical drugs can cause great harm when used.

And it would have been helpful if the HHS Secretary would have acknowledged that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) admits that it has no idea how the psychiatric drugs work in the brain to “treat” any of the alleged psychiatric disorders. Further, the pharmaceutical companies also are clear on their package inserts reporting that they have no idea how the drugs work for any alleged psychiatric diagnosis. In fact, numerous studies have shown that, in the case of clinical trial data on antidepressants, placebos (sugar pills) proved to be more effective than the drug “treatment.”

The HHS Secretary was good enough to provide some startling data about the nation’s psychiatric drugging of its children.

*Stimulant prescriptions for ADHD in the U.S. increased 250% from 2006 to 2016,63 despite evidence they did not improve outcomes long-term.

*Antidepressant prescription rates in teens increased by 1,400% between 1987 and 2014,65 even though a systematic overview shows that psychotherapy is just as effective as drugs in the short term, and potentially more effective in the long term.

*Antipsychotic prescriptions for children increased by 800% between 1993 and 2009, with most of these medications prescribed for conditions not approved by the FDA for use in children.

* Studies find that more than 35% (equivalent to more than 15 million prescriptions) of childhood antibiotics are unnecessary and that infants exposed to antibiotics in first 2 years of life are more likely to develop asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, celiac disease, obesity, and ADHD.

The sad truth and one that needs to be addressed, is that millions of America’s children are being wrongfully diagnosed with mental disorders that actually are emotional and behavioral issues and then drugged with harmful, even deadly psychiatric drugs.

AbleChild is calling on Secretary Kennedy to investigate the fraud of psychiatric diagnosing and set up federal guidelines that will force prescribing physicians to provide patients with an “exit plan” for withdrawing from the prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Too often, psychiatric drugs are prescribed without patients receiving important information about the diagnosis.  It isn’t based in science.  There is no abnormality in the brain that the drugs will “treat.”  Patients also should be advised of the anticipated time of drug use, follow up sessions for behavior updates and what the anticipated withdrawal plan may be and how it will be instituted. Too often the psychiatric drugs become cradle to grave “fixes.”

If the Secretary is truly interested in making America’s children healthy, it’s time to acknowledge the elephant in the room – that psychiatric diagnosing is out of control and the nation’s children are not getting better…they’re simply getting more drugged.

AbleChild is a 501(3) C nonprofit organization and has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.

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