Federal Drug Agency warns against drugs for child behavior problems - October 14th, 2014. - Psychological Interventions Preferred First.

LINK : http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM413390.pdf

APA Access | October 14, 2014

FDA warns against drugs for child behavior problems

Psychotherapy is an important part of depression treatment, says an FDA Consumer Health Update.

Psychologists play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood depression, and medications should not be used to treat behavior problems sometimes believed to be related to depression, the Food and Drug Administration said in a recent consumer health update.

“The first step to treating depression is to get a professional diagnosis; most children who are moody, grouchy or feel they are misunderstood are not depressed and don’t need any drugs,” states the update, FDA: Don’t Leave Childhood Depression Untreated (PDF, 304KB), posted in September on the FDA’s website.

A depression diagnosis for children is harder than one for adults because signs and symptoms change as children grow and as their brains develop, the update points out. “Because we don’t like to label kids with lifelong disorders, we first look for any other reasons for those symptoms. And if we diagnose depression, we assess the severity before treating the patients with medications,” says Mitchell Mathis, MD, director of FDA’s Division of Psychiatry Products.  

The update also cautions that children who take antidepressants might have more suicidal thoughts, which is why labeling includes a boxed warning on all antidepressants.