Wellness Unmasked Weekly Rundown: School Shootings, Youth Mental Health & the Broken CDC

Dr. Nicole Saphier addresses the recent Minneapolis school shooting, urging listeners to look beyond gun control and consider deeper issues like mental illness, social isolation, and the overprescription of powerful medications to youth. She raises concerns about the medicalization of gender dysphoria in adolescents and criticizes the CDC’s politicization and loss of public trust. Dr. Saphier calls for stronger, apolitical health leadership and a balanced national dialogue. Wellness Unmasked is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Friday.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to Wellness on Nassen, doctor Nicole Sapphire, and
this is your weekly rundown. This week, tragedy has struck
yet again, this time in Minneapolis, where another school shooting
has left families shattered and a community and nation in mourning.
Every one of these senseless acts forces us to confront
a very painful reality. We are failing to address the

(00:22):
root causes of violence amongst our youth. Guns are always
at the center of the conversation, but if we're truly
going to prevent the next tragedy, we have to look deeper.
What is driving so many young people to this breaking point?
Mental illness, isolation, social disconnection, and yes, the powerful medications
that so many of these kids are being prescribed. These

(00:42):
are rarely part of the discussion, yet they must be.
And we also cannot ignore the growing medical crisis surrounding
the trans movement. Let me be clear, every individual deserves
compassion and dignity, but as a physician, as a mother,
I cannot turn away from the undeniable truth that many
adolescents swept into this movement are struggling with profound mental illness.

(01:07):
Instead of addressing underlying depression, anxiety, the broken homes or trauma.
We are placing vulnerable kids on a conveyor belt of
puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, antidepressants, and surgeries, all interventions
with lifelong consequences. These are powerful drugs with known risks,

(01:27):
and yet they're being handed up to miners who can't
legally buy alcohol or even vote. We are sacrificing thoughtful
medical care at the altar of ideology, and when tragedies
like school shootings occur, no one dares to ask whether
these medications or untreated psychiatric disorders are actually part of
the picture. And while this crisis is unfolding, the public's

(01:51):
trust in our health institutions continue to crumble. Just this week,
more senior officials at the CDC have resigned. Their departure
highlight what so many Americans already feel the agency is fractured, politicized,
and out of touch. During COVID, the CDC became less
of a scientific authority and more of a political mouthpiece,

(02:12):
and now as they continue to lose experienced leaders, the
vacuum of trust only grows. We need strong, apolitical health
leadership that can restore credibility, not more resignations. These just
confirm the suspicions of dysfunction. Here's the bottom line. We
cannot prevent school shootings or improve public health with surface

(02:34):
level conversations. We need to confront the uncomfortable truths that
mental illness is spiraling in this country, that medications have consequences,
and that our institutions are failing us. Ignoring these realities
will not make them disappear. Americans deserve clear, consistent health communication,
but right now, too much of the conversation is dominated

(02:56):
by one divisive figure, RFK Junior. Regardless where you stand politically,
if you support Maha or not, everyone should want to
make America healthier again. It's dangerous to have a single
polarizing voice shaping the national diaglogue. The Department of Health
and Human Services should be elevating more spokespeople, scientists, positions,
and public health leaders who can speak directly to Americans

(03:19):
with credibility, clarity, and trust. And these can't just be
people in RFK Junior's inner circle. We have to bridge
the divide as a society. We have to demand better
better care for our children, better honesty from our leaders,
and better accountability from the agency's task with keeping us safe.
Thanks for listening to Wellness on Mass on America's number

(03:41):
one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Wellness on Mass with doctor
Nicole Saffire and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts, and we will see
you soon