Antipsychotic Medication For Children With Autism

When push comes to shove, any psychiatrist can prescribe anything they damned well please.

Oh, there are a few particularities. Like needing to have a “triplicate’ pad if you are going to prescribe speed, or a “tamper proof” pad if you are going to prescribe something wildly addictive. But any licensed MD can just phone those in legally if you give your “magic numbers” like your DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) number — even if not a psychiatrist.

This can do harm to a patient — even a harmless patient — with a plethora of substances that do not require any of these “special” measures to keep a doctor honest.

Antipsychotic drugs are meant to be … well, antipsychotic, “Psychosis” means seeing things or hearing things. In illnesses like schizophrenia (which hits about 1 % of the population) it happens, and it happens in spades. And it is hard, in what may be extremely sensitive situations, to make the voices go away.

But in this world there are “off-label” indications for drugs. Antipsychotic drugs are often prescribed to children to stop them from getting “aggressive.” Children are prescribed these drugs most often when they are intellectually compromised, or “autistic.”

When someone is “autistic,” that means they have trouble communicating and forming relationships. Being autistic does not automatically mean being psychotic.

These children who nobody is saying are “psychotic,” can become sedated or even depressed from these drugs, in addition to the “expected” or “common” side effects. Common side effects include: dry mouth, muscle stiffness, muscle cramping, tremors, weight gain and lots more.  I thank the British for performing this study (which I doubt Americans would ever have considered performing) on previously collected data.

The communication problem clearly belongs to the mental health professionals. It takes a lot of time and finesse and skiils to communicate properly with a patient — especially a little patient, who is compromised in either their intellect or communication skills.

There are “behavioral interventions.”

The answer is not always drugs.