Teens and medication use
December 4, 2012
THE majority of teenagers
suffering from a mental health
disorders are not taking psychiatric
medications to treat their
condition, a new study has found.
Published in the Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,
the study looked at ten thousand
one hundred twenty-three US
adolescents aged 13 to 18 years
who participated in the American
National Comorbidity Survey
Adolescent Supplement.
The cross-sectional survey
involved direct household
interviews of combined household
and school samples representative
of the general population of
adolescents in the United States.
Teenage participants in the study
were asked questions that helped
to ascertain information about
mental disorders and service use.
Amongst youth who were found
to have a mental disorder, 14.2%
reported that they had been treated
with a psychotropic medication.
Looking at the breakdown of
medication usage, researchers
found that teenagers with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) had the highest rates of
prescribed medicine use (31%),
whilst teens with a mood disorder
such as depression or bipolar had a
19.7% rate of medication use.
19 percent of teens with eating
disorders were also found to be on
medication treatment, as were
11.6% of those suffering with
anxiety.
Overall researchers noted that
only a small portion of teens with a
mental disorder were prescribed
psychotropic medication, and those
that were tended to be suffering
bipolar (1.7%) or a
neurodevelopmental disorder such
as autism (2%).
Interestingly, the study also found
that 2.5% of teens not suffering a
mental disorder were prescribed a
psychotropic.
Of these teens, 78% reported
having previously suffered a mental
or neurodevelopmental disorder
and associated psychological
distress or impairment.
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