Psychiatric News (10/24) reported a study presented at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s 2025 annual meeting found that “children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more than seven times as likely to be prescribed antipsychotics as a child without ASD, but they are not more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder later in life.” The researchers “used the TriNetX health care database to analyze five years of electronic medical record data among patients 18 and younger without a history of schizophrenia.” They observed that “children with ASD were two-and-a-half times more likely to experience hallucinations as the control group and three-and-a-half times more likely to experience aggression. Youth with ASD were also nearly eight times more likely to be prescribed antipsychotics and more than five times more likely to be prescribed nonstimulant attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the risk of developing a primary psychotic disorder later in life between those with or without ASD.”
Related Links:
— “Children With Autism More Likely to Experience Hallucinations but Not to Develop Psychosis, Psychiatric News , October 24, 2025