Summer Heat Exposes Another SSRI Risk as Kennedy Targets Overprescribing

Recent reports show that individuals who take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have a difficult time responding to heat waves. Specifically, SSRIs and SNRIs can impact the body’s ability to regulate temperature, which can lead to dehydration and/or heat-related illnesses.

A BBC report highlights several reactions people are experiencing during the heat of the summer while taking drugs for mental health. These symptoms include excessive and constant sweating, agitation, exhaustion, dizziness, and dehydration. SSRIs and SNRIs disrupt thermoregulation, increasing the risk of sweating and dehydration. Health professionals recommend patients avoid the peak sun during the hottest months of the year while taking these drugs.

SSRIs boost serotonin, which can overactivate the hypothalamus and trigger excessive sweating. This is known as secondary hyperhidrosis and leads to fluid loss, reduced cooling ability, and risks ranging from mild discomfort to heat stroke. Tricyclics, another class of antidepressants, can inhibit the body’s ability to sweat and cause an increase in the body’s core temperature. Symptoms include dry mouth, headache, fatigue, confusion, and a higher likelihood of heat stroke.

Patients taking antidepressants should take several precautions during hot weather to help keep their bodies cool. Combat heat intolerance by drinking lots of water, taking a cold bath, and avoiding outdoor activity in the hottest part of the day.

Heat intolerance is just one known side effect associated with antidepressants, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has argued that the medications are being overprescribed. The HighWire reported on the dark side of antidepressants earlier this year, and the plan by HHS to curb overuse of antidepressants, especially in children.

Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards reported earlier this month for The HighWire about a young 12-year-old girl named London, who took her life. London was prescribed Prozac and later received antipsychotic medications from an inpatient facility. London was diagnosed with anxiety in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown, but the mother tried alternative approaches to avoid pharmaceutical medication. In 2023, she was admitted to an inpatient Christian mental health facility after the school found a note saying she would be “better off dead.”

London tragically lost her life in 2024. Health professionals tried to resolve her depressive symptoms with pharmaceutical medications rather than looking for the underlying lifestyle factors contributing to her condition. London and her mother began pursuing a case against big tech for social media addiction in early 2024. At the time, London described her obsessions with logging on to social media. She said it is all that she thinks about, and she immediately tries to get on within 1-2 minutes after her mother tells her to log off.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has internal studies and communications that reveal the level of addictiveness caused by the platforms. The documents also show a concerted effort to get teens to spend even more time on the platform despite the known harms. One internal study stated, “Young people are acutely aware that Instagram is bad for their mental health, yet are compelled to spend time on the app for fear of missing out on cultural and social trends.” 

There is a notable correlation between the prevalence of social media in the culture and increased prescriptions of SSRIs for children. The percentage of US children and adolescents aged 3-17 receiving SSRIs increased from 1.5% to 3.6% from 2006 to 2023.

In early May, HHS held a summit to discuss concerns with psychiatric medications alongside the announcement of its strategy framework to reduce overprescription. During that summit, author and consultant Lauren Delano said young people have been trained to translate their despair, self-doubt, and loneliness “into symptoms of incurable brain pathology requiring lifelong pharmaceutical use.”

HHS gathered experts this month to develop clinical guidance on SSRI deprescribing. They discussed European models, tapering protocols, distinguishing withdrawal from relapse, research gaps, and alternatives. CMS introduced billing codes for deprescribing work so it is reimbursable for Medicare and Medicaid providers.

“Psychiatric medicines have a role in care, but we will no longer treat them as the default,” Secretary Kennedy said. “We will treat them as one option, used when appropriate with full transparency and with a clear path off when they are no longer effective.”

The volume of antidepressant prescriptions more than tripled across all age groups in the US from 1998 to 2018. About 1 in 6 adults (16.6%) are on antidepressants according to a cross-sectional survey study published in January, 2026.

There are a number of significant side effects associated with antidepressant use, and the inability of the body to regulate temperature is just the latest to get attention during this summer’s heatwave. Suicidal ideation, sexual dysfunction, withdrawal, apathy, and weight gain are also associated with this class of drugs.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a statement supporting continued research and clinician training on prescribing and deprescribing. The APA said, “We strongly object to framing the nation’s mental health crisis as primarily a problem of ‘overmedicalization’ or ‘overprescribing.’ That characterization oversimplifies a complex crisis and ignores the larger reality: too many patients cannot access timely, comprehensive care, while care remains unevenly distributed across our health system.”

The APA added that it is “committed to ensuring that patients have access to the full range of evidence-based treatments, including medication when clinically appropriate.” Surveys suggest as much as 30-50% of antidepressant users have no evidence-based indication to continue, but coming off the medications is difficult due to fear of withdrawal symptoms and relapse.