When Kids Need Meds; Everything a Parent Needs to Know About Psychiatric Medication and Youngsters
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
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CHAPTER 1: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
- What is a mental disorder? How do I know if my child has one?
- Why does my child have a mental disorder? Was it my fault?
- Will psychiatric medication treat the symptoms only? Or the mental disorder in whole? Or both?
- I’ve heard there has been an increase in prescribing these medications to children. Is that true?
- Can my pediatrician prescribe psychiatric medication?
- Off label prescribing. Are psychiatric medications approved for use in children?
- Can these medications harm my child?
- Are there long term effects that are harmful?
- How do these medications work?
- Polypharmacy. Do children have to take more than one medication at a time?
- Will my child need medication for the rest of his life?
- What happens to children who don’t take recommended medication?
- How much research should I do when the doctor prescribes medication for my child?
- Should medication be prescribed immediately?
- What’s involved in a psychiatric evaluation?
- How do I tell my child about an upcoming evaluation?
CHAPTER 2 WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING YOUR CHILD ON PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION
CHAPTER 3 STIMULANT MEDICATION: WHEN YOUR CHILD HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER
- What is ADD?
- Types of ADD
- ADD can lead to other problems
- What causes ADD?
- Making the diagnosis
- Treatment of ADD
- Non medication treatment
- Treatment with stimulant medication.
- How do the drugs work?
- Side effects
- Methlyphenidate Compounds
- Amphetamine derivatives
- When the stimulants fail
CHAPTER 4 ANTIPSYCHOTIC MEDICATION
- What disorders are treated with these medications?
- Schizophrenia
- Other psychoses
- Conduct Disorder
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Stimulant resistant AD(H)D
- Tics
- Childhood Bipolar Disorder
- TDD-Temper Dysregulation with Dysphoria
- Autism
- Agitation
- Self Injurious Behaviors
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Behaviors
- Severe Eating Disorders
- Trends in the use of Antipsychotic Medications
- How often are they prescribed?
- How do these medications work?
- Typical Antipsychotics
- Atypical Antipsychotics
- Side Effects
- Withdrawal
- Required medical examinations
- How many children take these medications?
- How effective are they?
- How are these drugs used?
- When Antipsychotics fail
CHAPTER 5 ANTIDEPRESSANTS
- Young people get depressed
- Statistics of suicide
- Suicide triggers
- Warning signs of suicide
- What to about suicide concerns
- Treating depression with medication
- Black Box Warning
- Medication alone is never wise
- How antidepressants work
- MAOI inhibitors
- Tricyclic antidepressants
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)
- Norepinepherine-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (NSRI’s)
- Other antidepressants
- How effective are antidepressants?
- How are antidepressants prescribed?
- The commonest antidepressants
CHAPTER 6 MOOD STABILIZERS FOR BIPOLAR DISORDER AND OTHER CONDITIONS
- What does Bipolar Disorder look like in Adults?
- What does Bipolar Disorder look like in Children and Teenagers?
- TDD-Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria
- Medication for Bipolar Disorder, TDD and accompanying conditions
- How do we treat Bipolar Disorder and TDD?
- Acute phase treatment
- Maintenance phase treatment
- The Mood Stabilizers
- Lithium
- Side effects
- Lithium toxicity
- How lithium is used
- Tegretol
- Side effects
- Valproic acid-Depakote
- Side effects
- Lithium
- Other uses of Mood stabilizers in children and adolescents
CHAPTER 7 TREATMENT FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS
- Fear vs Anxiety
- Causes of Anxiety
- What Anxiety Disorders appear in young people
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder (with or without agoraphobia)
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Social Phobia
- Selective Mutism
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Specific Phobias
- Treatment of Anxiety Disorders with Psychotropic Medication
- Psychotherapy first
- Antidepressants
- Tranquilizers (Benzodiazepines)
- Antihistamines
- Buspar
- Antipsychotic medication
- Beta Blockers
CHAPTER 8 SLEEP DISORDERS AND MEDICATION
- What should we expect about sleep?
- Sleep problems
- Sleep Hygiene
- What about sleep in kids with psychiatric problems?
- ADHD
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Pervasive developmental disorder and retardation
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- Substance abuse
- Certain medications and illnesses
- Other sleep disorders and their treatment
- Parasomnias
- Nightmares
- Night terrors
- Sleepwalking
- Enuresis (bed wetting)
- Parasomnias
- What about sleep medication for children and teenagers?
- Antihypertensive medication
- Antihistamines
- Trazadone
- Benzodiazepines
- Sedative hypnotics-sleeping pills
CHAPTER 9 OTHER TYPES OF THERAPY
- Types of therapy
- Insight oriented individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
- Work with parents
- Detoxification and rehabilitation
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Dialectic behavioral therapy
- EMDR-eye movement desensitization reprocessing
- Hypnosis and biofeedback
- Remediation
- Hospitalization
- Day and Residential treatment
- Choosing a therapist
- Different mental health professionals
- What to look for
- Credentials
- References
- Gut feeling
CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSION
FURTHER REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
