Childhood and adolescence disorders The practice of pharmacological treatment in a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic

Objective: Important progress have been made in psychopharmacology whereby mechanisms of psychotropic drugs have been better understood and new psychotropic drugs with netter selectivity thus less side effects have been developed. Beyond supportive psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, family therapy and play therapy, pharmacological treatment options have important roles in clinical practice of child and adolescent psychiatry. In this study it was aimed to determine the psychotropics and non-pharmacological treatment options used in treatment of children and adolescents applied in a child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic.

Method: Medical records of 538 patients referred to the Children and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic between January 2009 and June 2009 were studied retrospectively.

Results: More than half of the cases were prescribed psychotropic medications. The most commonly prescribed medications in descending order of frequency were antidepressants, psychostimulants, antipsychotics and anxiolytics. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) were the most common choice within antidepressants. Sertraline and şuoxetine were the most common prescribed SSRIs. Short acting methylphenidate was the most common prescribed stimulant and risperidone was the most common antipsychotic prescribed. About half of the cases were given non-pharmacological treatment options. Giving counseling was the most common treatment choice among non-pharmacological treatment options.

Conclusion: To know the most common treatment choices will help child and adolescent psychiatrists in treatment applications. The results of this study need to be supported with investigations which include larger subgroups.