Abstract
Objective:
The recent studies show that psychotropic drug use in out-patient and in-patient psychiatric treatments of child and adolescents has been increasing. In our country, the literature regarding the psychotropic drug use in both treatment settings is very limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychopharmacologic interventions in our in-patient unit, which is one of the few inpatient child and adolescent clinics in Turkey.
Method:
The patients' records whose psychiatric treatments had been conducted between January 2006 and May 2007 in Dokuz Eylul University Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service In-Patient Unit were investigated. The medication that had been given was reported according to the groups (antipsychotic, antidepressants, etc), effective pharmacochemical substance and poly-pharmacy alternatives.
Results:
All 46 patients (100 %) that were taken into the study had been given a psychotropic agent. Antipsychotics was the most preferred drugs (80.4 %) in their treatment. According to the frequency of the drug usage, the other most common ones were antidepressants, anti-anxiety and mood stabilizers in turn. On the other hand, in 36 patients (78.2 %), at least two psychotropic agents were used.
Discussion:
Results were discussed with related literature regarding psychiatric drug use in child and adolescent age group
Keywords: In-patient unit, psychopharmacotherapy, child, adolescent, polypharmacy
