Common pitfalls, and how to avoid them, in child and adolescent psychopharmacology: Part I

Samuele Cortese; Frank Mc Besag; Bruce Clark; Chris Hollis; Joe Kilgariff; Carmen Moreno; Dasha Nicholls; Paul Wilkinson; Marc Woodbury-Smith; Aditya Sharma

doi:10.1177/02698811241239582

Common pitfalls, and how to avoid them, in child and adolescent psychopharmacology: Part I

J Psychopharmacol. 2024 Apr;38(4):311-317. doi: 10.1177/02698811241239582. Epub 2024 Mar 18.

Authors

Samuele Cortese^{1

2

3

4}, Frank Mc Besag^{5

6}, Bruce Clark⁷, Chris Hollis^{8

9

10}, Joe Kilgariff⁸, Carmen Moreno¹¹, Dasha Nicholls^{12

13}, Paul Wilkinson^{14

15}, Marc Woodbury-Smith¹⁶, Aditya Sharma^{17

18}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Innovation in Mental Health, School of Psychology, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
² Solent NHS Trust, Southampton, UK.
³ Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone, New York University Child Study Center, New York City, NY, USA.
⁴ DiMePRe-J-Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine-Jonic Area, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', Bari, Italy.
⁵ UCL School of Pharmacy, London, UK.
⁶ East London Foundation NHS Trust, Bedfordshire, UK.
⁷ National Specialist Clinic for Young People with OCD, BDD and Related Disorders, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
⁹ National Institute of Mental Health (NIHR) MindTech Medtech Co-operative, Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham, UK.
¹⁰ NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Mental Health & Technology Theme, Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham, UK.
¹¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, ISCIII, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
¹² Division of Psychiatry, Imperial College London, London, UK.
¹³ NIHR ARC Northwest London, London, UK.
¹⁴ School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK.
¹⁵ Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁶ Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
¹⁷ Academic Psychiatry, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
¹⁸ Specialist Adolescent Mood Disorders Service (SAMS), Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Abstract

As Faculty of the British Association for Psychopharmacology course on child and adolescent psychopharmacology, we present here what we deem are the most common pitfalls, and how to avoid them, in child and adolescent psychopharmacology. In this paper, we specifically addressed common pitfalls in the pharmacological treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders, and tic disorder. Pitfalls in the treatment of other disorders are addressed in a separate paper (part II).

Keywords: Psychopharmacology; adolescents; children; expert opinion; pitfalls; young people.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety Disorders / drug therapy
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* / drug therapy
Child
Comorbidity
Humans
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / drug therapy
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / epidemiology
Psychopharmacology*
Tic Disorders* / epidemiology