Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission released its initial report in late May, billing it as the “foundation” for a national policy strategy. Meant to assess chronic disease trends—including rising youth mental-health diagnoses and treatment—the report instead marked the movement’s first major setback. The 73-page document, with 522 citations, drew swift backlash for numerous references that were misrepresented, misattributed, or simply false. With citations to nonexistent studies and dead hyperlinks, the report also showed signs of possible AI-generated content. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the obvious and embarrassing flaws as “formatting issues,” but nonpartisans weren’t convinced.
The MAHA movement draws support from a diverse coalition: critics of corporate influence and overmedicated living; academics alarmed by pervasive social-media use; skeptics of vaccines and mainstream science; those disillusioned by government cover-ups during Covid-19; advocates of environmental regulation; and, not least, mothers who might otherwise lean progressive but oppose a public-health model that pathologizes issues better addressed through personal responsibility.
Mental health—in particular, youth mental health—has been a MAHA priority. A key sign of the movement’s traction has been its success in prompting others to admit that the current approach isn’t working. In May, the New York Times published an essay by psychiatrist Awais Aftab, pointedly titled “Harm from Antidepressants Is Real. Let’s Not Cede the Conversation to Kennedy.” Earlier, the Times had called out Kennedy for claiming that “15 percent of American youth are now on Adderall or some other A.D.H.D. medications,” but ultimately conceded that the figure is 12.9 percent and acknowledged rising rates of both stimulant prescriptions and psychotherapy. It also noted that these trends have not improved outcomes for low-income or black youth, or for adults with “serious psychological distress.”
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Author: Ruth King
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