Pharmacotherapy of Irritability in Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Children and adolescents diagnosed with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) often sustain irritability, including aggression, self-injurious behavior, and tantrums. Research to date supports the use of the atypical antipsychotics as a first-line pharmacologic treatment for this target symptom domain in PDDs. Currently, the atypical antipsychotic risperidone is the only medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for irritability in youth with autism. Additional large-scale, placebo-controlled studies of other medications are needed to determine their efficacy for the treatment of irritability in this diagnostic group.
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Riley Hospital for Children, Room 4300, 702 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5200, USA
bDepartment of Psychiatry, PB 2nd Floor, 1111 W. 10th Street, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202-4800, USA
Corresponding author. Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center, James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Room 4300, 702 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5200.
This work was supported in part by a Research Unit on Pediatric Psychopharmacology-Psychosocial Intervention grant (U10 MH066766) from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to Indiana University (Drs. McDougle and Stigler), research grant (R01 MH072964) from the NIMH (Drs. McDougle and Stigler), a General Clinical Research Center grant (M01 RR00750) from the National Institutes of Health to Indiana University (Drs. McDougle and Stigler), and a Daniel X. and Mary Freedman Psychiatric Research Fellowship Award (Dr. Stigler).
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