Psychiatrists Deny the Harm of Antidepressants for the Fetus

 Robert Whitaker’s August 23, 2025 article, “Not even the unborn are safe from psychiatric harm,” is both a damning indictment of psychiatry’s pharmaceutical establishment and a sobering reminder of how scientific truth is often buried under guild interests and media collusion.

The FDA panel on antidepressants in pregnancy raised legitimate concerns about fetal harm from SSRIs and SNRIs, backed by decades of animal studies, human epidemiological findings, and biological plausibility. Yet, instead of grappling with this evidence, professional organizations mounted a coordinated backlash, branding the panelists as “biased” and “misinforming the public.” Mainstream media outlets, parroting these statements, failed in their responsibility to question authority and investigate the science.

Whitaker’s analysis, strengthened by additional context, lays bare the mechanisms of the Doubt Industry—how conflicts of interest, flawed statistical adjustments, and underpowered studies are weaponized to obscure inconvenient truths. The overwhelming picture from both animal and human research is one of risk, not benefit: altered brain development, pre-term birth, neonatal abstinence syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and later-life depression.

The moral crisis is stark. Medical organizations, psychiatry, and their allies in the press are not protecting maternal or fetal health—they are protecting prescribing practices and corporate profits. As Adam Urato chillingly observed, “Never before in human history have we chemically altered developing babies like this… without any real public warning.”

The article exposes a tragedy: mothers and the public are denied informed consent, while unborn children are exposed to risks that cannot be undone. Alternatives such as psychotherapy—which are safe and effective—are dismissed, while antidepressants, which confer minimal benefit and significant harm, are defended with near-religious zeal.

Whitaker has once again performed a public service by shining a light on this systemic deception. Whether the public will heed these warnings—or whether institutions will continue their “total moral meltdown”—remains an open question.

• FDA Panel (July 21, 2025): Convened to review evidence of fetal harm from antidepressants; panelists called for informed consent.

• Guild Backlash: APA, ACOG, SMFM, and others denounced the panel as biased, falsely claiming SSRIs are safe and effective.

• Media Complicity: Outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NBC, and NPR echoed guild positions uncritically, branding evidence-based concerns as “misinformation.”

Evidence of Harm

• Animal Studies:

  • Altered brain development, low birth weight, persistent pulmonary hypertension, cardiomyopathy, increased postnatal mortality.

  • Behavioral changes resembling anxiety and depression in rodents.

• Human Studies:

  • Kaiser Permanente study: counseling reduced pre-term delivery (–18%); antidepressants increased it (+31%).

  • Elevated risks: miscarriage, pre-term birth, congenital malformations, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders.

  • Neonatal abstinence syndrome in ~30% of exposed infants, with 84% of symptoms classified as serious.

  • Gingrich 2025: hyperactive amygdala in adolescents exposed prenatally, matching animal findings.

The Doubt Industry

• Confounded Research: Many human studies use flawed statistical adjustments (e.g., logistic regression) to minimize risks.

• Conflict of Interest: Professional organizations and researchers protect prescribing practices rather than public health.

• Suppression of Truth: Consistent harms in animal models are downplayed; inconsistent human studies are weaponized to create doubt.

Ethical and Moral Failures

• Guild Interests vs. Public Good: Organizations place professional self-interest above informed consent and maternal/fetal safety.

• False Safety Claims: Assertions that SSRIs do not increase congenital anomalies or developmental problems contradict the evidence.

• Media Failure: Instead of scrutinizing, journalists acted as amplifiers of misinformation.

• Alternative Treatments Ignored: Psychotherapy, proven safe and effective, is marginalized in favor of drug treatments with negligible benefit.

• Antidepressants offer minimal clinical benefit but impose significant risks on unborn children.

• Current practice amounts to a large-scale, uncontrolled experiment on fetal development.

• As Whitaker and panelists warned, society must confront the reality that “never before… have we chemically altered developing babies like this.”

https://brownstone.org/articles/psychiatrists-deny-the-harm-of-antidepressants-for-the-fetus/