PROVIDENCE, R.I., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. child mental health professionals have developed recommendations for mental disorders to help doctors considering medications for children ages 3 to 6.
The Preschool Psychopharmacology Working Group, which includes clinicians and researchers from a number of specialties, said many preschool children are being treated with stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, despite limited research and a lack of clinical practice guidelines.
"Without established treatment guidelines, clinicians and families face a delicate balancing process," lead author Dr. Mary Margaret Gleason of the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center in Providence, R.I., said in a statement. "If (a) child continues to have severe or dangerous symptoms after non-medication treatments, the physicians and families must weigh the potential risks of medications with the risks of not intervening in complex clinical situations."
The group developed treatment algorithms for nine common mental health disorders based on a review of existing literature on the use of psychiatric medications in preschoolers, knowledge about preschoolers' development, available data on school-age children and adolescents, and expert clinical experience.
The findings are published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
