Pediatric Psychopharmacology: Perspectives from Low Resource Countries

Systematic research and evidence to guide prescribing practices for children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders, have seen tremendous growth in the last two decades. Despite the lack of trained personnel and capabilities for multidisciplinary care in low resource countries, use of psychopharmacological treatments in children has seen wide dissemination. Mostly guided by data from the West, there are a few contributions in the field of pediatric psychopharmacology from India. For a rational prescriber, the most sought-after knowledge would be regarding proper diagnosis, selection of the right medicine, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, proper dosage, dose titration schedule, side effects, and drug interactions of the relevant drugs. Better characterization of childhood psychiatric disorders; advances in developmental neurobiology; cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal functions; and advent of newer and more specifically targeted psychotropic drugs have contributed to the advancements in pediatric psychopharmacology.