USA Today (12/3, Painter) reports, “Most US teens with mental disorders are not taking psychiatric medications,” according to a study published online Dec. 3 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In fact, “just 14% of teens with any mental disorder take medications designed to alter emotions or behavior, the study finds. In most cases, the medications are those considered appropriate for their conditions,” the study found.
Bloomberg News (12/4, Ostrow) reports that the study’s findings “show that American teens aren’t getting more psychiatric medications than necessary despite previous reports suggesting the contrary, the authors said. ‘It’s reassuring that the utilization seems to match the needs of these kids,’ said Benedetto Vitiello, the study author and chief of the Child and Adolescent Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. ‘This paper does not suggest that there is an excessive use. If anything, it may suggest at times medications are used fairly sparingly and other treatments are used instead of medications,'” Vitiello added.
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— “Most teens with mental disorders take no medication,”Kim Painter, USA Today, December 3, 2012.