[Should psychotropic drugs be prescribed to adolescents?]

The prescription of a psychotropic drugs to an adolescent is a high-risk prescription that raises numerous issues, imposing a rigorous evaluation of the expected benefit compared with the results that could be obtained by another approach, and the risk of interference with the spontaneous changes inherent to the process of adolescence. If sedatives, anxiolytics and psychostimulants are proscribed, it is possible in the case of absolute necessity, to prescribe neuroleptics and antidepressants. In this case, the medications should be prescribed in efficacious doses, should be the object of negotiation with the adolescent and his parents, and must never be prescribed at the first consultation nor, in any case, consist of the sole therapeutic intervention. It imposes a regular follow-up of the adolescent to assess compliance and to detect possible suicidal ideation.