Off-Label Prescribing of Antipsychotics for Youths: Who Should Be Treated?

摘要

In recent years, treatment options for several child and adolescent psychiatric problems have increasingly relied on antipsychotic medications. The rise in prescriptions for youths has generated public and professional concern over the appropriate role of pharmacology in child psychiatry. Criticism is seen in mainstream media and in discussions of restricting off-label use of psychiatric medications. These concerns center on adverse effects of medications, high rates of prescribing, and off-label prescribing. Implicit is an assumption that antipsychotics have no treatment role outside of their FDA-approved indications (Table).