Psychopharmacological Approaches

Abstract

Although there is a paucity of empirically based studies on the use of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of childhood disorders, medication is often considered an integral part of a treatment plan for children with psychiatric and behavioral disorders (Olfson, Pincus, & Sabshin, 1994). However, it is important to remember that medication is typically used as only one component of a broad therapeutic approach to alleviate psychiatric symptoms in children. For psychiatric problems, such as anxiety or depression, medication provides symptomatic relief, allowing the child to function more fully at school and at home. In general, medication should be used to improve the child’s general functioning and quality of life rather than strictly for reducing undesirable behaviors or symptoms (Singh, 1995). Further, although medication may relieve the child’s symptoms of psychiatric illness, it does not remove vulnerability to its recurrence because the environmental and constitutional stressors that gave rise to the illness are not affected by the medication.