Fact Versus Fear: Antidepressants in Children and Adolescents

A presidential executive order early this year directed federal departments and agencies to address the issue of chronic disease in the United States, including "the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)," with a particular focus on youth. In this podcast, Dr. Jeffrey R. Strawn discusses his editorial, "Fact Versus Fear: Antidepressants in Children and Adolescents," which is published in the September-October 2025 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. In the editorial, Dr. Strawn and his coauthor, Dr. John T. Walkup, write that the framing of the issue in the executive order risks reinforcing stigma and diminishing trust in evidence-based pediatric mental health care. The editorial summarizes the evidence supporting the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of SSRIs in youth and contextualizes these findings within a discussion of the risk of withholding potentially effective treatments due to stigma and misinformation. The editorial is published in the September-October 2025 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. doi: 10.1097/JCP.0000000000002054