Practitioner’s Guide to Psychoactive Drugs for Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The stimulant medications are the most commonly used psychotropic drugs employed with children, especially where inattentive, hyperactive, and/or impulsive behavior is sufficiently severe to impact adversely on school functioning or social adjustment. It has been estimated that 1.5 million children annually, 2.8% of the school-age population, may be using stimulants for behavior management.1 Historically, most of the individuals for whom stimulants were prescribed were children between 5 and 12 years of age. But, more recently, there has been a significant increase in the prescription of these medications for adolescents, particularly for those diagnosed as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).2