Youth at entry to residential treatment: Understanding psychotropic medication use

a r t i c l e i n f o Youth entering residential treatment often present with complex mental health and behavioral needs. As a result, it is not surprising that many of these youth have active prescriptions for psychotropic medications. What is surprising, however, is that very little is known about how psychotropic medications are used for youth who enter residential treatment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of psychotropic medication use for youth at their time of entry to residential treatment through the examination of archival data. Data suggested that the youth in this sample had high levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties and that many had active psychotropic prescriptions. Patterns of use differed slightly from those identified with previous samples, but several clinical and non-clinical factors were identified that were predictive of psychotropic medication use. Findings and implications are discussed in detail. Over the past decade, research in the field of pediatric psycho-pharmacology has increased at a significant rate (Vitiello, 2008). The increase of research in both the pharmaceutical industry and academia has been encouraged by the enactment of federal legislation focused on establishing safety and efficacy data in child samples and a burgeoning interest by federal agencies such as the National The result has been several promising studies examining the use of psychotropic medications for youth with a variety of emotional and behavioral disorders. For example, research on the use of medications for youth with ADHD has shown that psychostimulants can be effective in reducing behavioral symptoms such as impulsivity and hyperactivity & Moher, 2001). For youth with depression, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been shown to be more effective than usual care when used either alone or in combination with psychosocial treatments (March, Silva, Vitiello, & The TADS Team, 2006). In addition, second generation antipsychotics have been shown to reduce levels of aggression for youth with both developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders (Stigler & McDougle, 2008; Van Bellinghen & De Troch, 2001). However, despite emerging evidence for the effectiveness of some psychotropic medications, widespread and frequent use of psychotro-pic medications for pediatric populations remains a controversial issue (Correll et al., 2006; Vitiello, 2007). While research examining the effects of psychotropic medications for youth has been continually increasing over the past decade (Connor & Meltzer, 2006; Vitiello, 2008), there remain questions about the appropriateness of current psychotropic prescribing …