2019 research review<\/a> found that most school shooters from 2000 to 2017 had not been treated with psychiatric medication. For those who had, the review found, there was no direct or causal link between the medication and the shooting.<\/p>\nTwo medical doctors told The Dallas Morning News Thursday afternoon that there\u2019s not a connection between psychiatric medications and shootings.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ardashes Mirzatuny is a psychiatrist in Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a link with gun violence,\u201d Mirzatuny said. \u201cIn fact, one should be on some kind of psychiatric medication to forestall any kind of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Paul Nestadt is a psychiatry professor and the medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is absolutely no evidence for a link between the use of psychiatric medications and mass shootings,\u201d Nestadt said in an email. \u201cThere is, on the other hand, very clear and conclusive evidence linking access to firearms and mass shootings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy did not mention any specific shooting during his comments at the Austin press conference. But the response echoed earlier comments that the health secretary made on Fox News when asked about Wednesday\u2019s mass shooting in Minneapolis. That shooting, at a Catholic school, left two children dead<\/a> and more than a dozen other people injured.<\/p>\nOn a segment of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Kennedy if he would investigate whether medication to treat gender dysphoria could be to blame for the shooting. (Authorities have identified the Minneapolis shooter as transgender.)<\/p>\n
Kennedy responded more broadly about psychiatric medication, and said federal researchers are looking into \u201cthe potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.\u201d <\/p>\n
SSRIs are a class of antidepressants, which are commonly used to treat depression, anxiety and other conditions. SSRIs are not specifically used for gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n