PEDIATRIC PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
R. J. Haggerty MD
In this issue the editors conclude a two-part special section. Of the five papers in the second part, four center on conduct disturbances. Conduct disturbances have not received the attention that their high prevalence rate and poor prognosis merit, despite the fact that they are probably also the most common reason that psychotropic drugs are prescribed for children and adolescents.
The first paper is a useful review which concludes with a pilot study that is of interest because it adds to our knowledge of the place of lithium in child psychiatry.
The second paper reports an interesting serendipitous observation arising out of a study of depressed children. While in some cases depression may present as conduct disorder, and therefore respond to antidepressant medication, this study suggests the possibility of an independent role for antidepressant drugs in conduct disorder.
The next paper is a short report on the use of a new drug (or a new use for an old drug) propranolol in rage reactions in brain-damaged patients. All three of these studies, however, are uncontrolled or otherwise methodologically flawed. This is justifiable only in pilot studies such as these, which must be taken only as signposts to future possibilities of the use of pharmacologic agents in behavior disturbances.
