The Psychiatric clinics of North America
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Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. · Mar 1992
ReviewThe pharmacologic treatment of conduct disorders and rage outbursts.
Although this article focuses on psychopharmacology, pharmacotherapy is only part of a comprehensive treatment program. Treatment should be individualized to the patient's condition and level of intellectual functioning (e.g., conduct disorder, mental retardation). Clinicians should be acquainted with the Food and Drug Administration's regulations and the Physician's Desk Reference's guidelines. ⋯ In conclusion, there is a need for systematic investigation of the effectiveness and safety of psychoactive agents in children and adolescents with aggressiveness, explosiveness, and rage outbursts. There is some supportive evidence that some patients with these target symptoms are good responders to certain drugs. Future research should compare pharmacotherapy to psychosocial treatment and the combination of both.
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Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. · Mar 1992
ReviewThe pharmacologic treatment of child and adolescent depression.
The evidence of continuity of child and adolescent depression into adult depression, of familial transmission of this disorder from parent to child, of psychobiologic similarity, and the similar syndromic picture all strongly argue that, by extrapolation, pharmacologic agents with proven efficacy in adult depression are likely candidates for the pharmacologic treatment of children and adolescents with this disorder. On the other hand, differences in kinetics, in cognitive maturity, and in brain maturity effecting mechanisms thought to be important in the control of affect all strongly argue that even if the disorder is related, the pharmacologic response may be different. As yet, the efficacy or lack of efficacy of cyclic antidepressants in either children or adolescents with MDD have not been established.