Discordance Between Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medication Use in Children and Adults With Autism Presenting in Crisis

What is it about?

This article presents data showing that individuals with autism who present in crisis have high rates of co-occurring psychiatric and medical conditions. Most of these individuals were prescribed at least one psychotropic medication. We evaluated the alignment between psychotropic medications used and psychiatric diagnosis, finding that there was often discordance between the two. Medications were being used for which there was no indication or for which there was a contraindication for a particular psychiatric diagnosis. Guidelines to help clinicians with decision making in treating this patient population are presented. These include help in identifying medication discordance, and tips for deprescribing certain medications, if indicated.

Featured Image

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Identifying discordance between psychotropic medication use and psychiatric conditions presents an opportunity to pursue better treatment outcomes for autistic individuals, particularly those with treatment-resistant agitation.