[Use of psychopharmaceuticals in child- and adolescent-outpatient practice]

The use of psychotropic drugs in a child psychiatric outpatient clinic and a child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic was studied for 1988 and 1989, using information supplied in the new registration forms for patients in child and adolescent psychiatry in Norway. 1,052 patients were registered during the period in question, which means 1-2% of the local population in the actual age groups. The percentage of patients who received psychotropic/antiepileptic drugs varied from 6.5% to 15.2%. Stimulants, usually given to hyperactive children, were clearly the medication most often prescribed. Other forms of treatment were also registered, and it seems that psychotropic drugs are given only as a supplement to patients in need of a broad therapeutic approach. The registration forms provide useful and important knowledge in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry.