Paediatric psychopharmacology: closing the gap between science and practice

Children and adolescents do not always respond to treatment with psychotropic agents in a similar fashion to adults. Differences in safety and therapeutic response may occur across the life cycle. For example, despite the fact that tricyclic antidepressants are traditionally the 'gold standards' of pharmacotherapy for depressed adults, it does not seem that youths with depression benefit from treatment with these agents [1]. Similarly, it appears that earlier age at onset is associated with a reduced propensity to respond to neuroleptics for patients with schizophrenia [2]. In addition, young patients have been noted to be at higher risk for developing neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal side effects when compared to adults [3]. Simply put, what is known about the safety and effectiveness of psychotropic compounds in adults cannot necessarily be presumed to be applicable to teenagers or children.