Is the Use of Psychotropic Drugs Helpful Within Child Psychiatry?

Abstract

Specialized child psychopharmacology dates back to 1937, when Bradley introduced amphetamines into the treatment of disturbed children. Since then there have been attempts to deepen our knowledge about psychostimulant drug action and to widen the spectrum of psychoactive substances for use in children. As regards the psychostimulants, remarkable progress has been made. For other drugs, mostly those in wide use in adult psychiatric pharmacotherapy, research has remained sporadic, leaving knowledge rather restricted. A period of relative enthusiasm in the late 1960s for employing antidepressant medication in children suffering from a large variety of complaints believed to represent depressive “equivalents” was quickly terminated by a change in general attitudes toward the use of psychoactive drugs, particularly in children. Public opinion in general is against using drugs to treat behavior problems, and even among child psychiatrists opinion is divided: Those oriented toward biological understanding who are dealing with children and adolescents presenting with severe and acute or chronic disorders, namely the psychoses, have to rely on pharmacotherapy and would wish to see knowledge improved and systematized. Others, primarily committed to a psychological approach and therefore, perhaps unknowingly dealing with different patients, see little need for the use of drugs and repudiate them.