Choosing antipsychotics for children with schizophrenia

Jean A. Frazier, MD
Robert M. and Shirley S. Siff Chair and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, and vice chair and director, division of child and adolescent psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

Robert A. Kowatch, MD, PhD
Section Editor for Current Psychiatry and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.

Jean A. Frazier, MD was 1 of 4 principal investigators in the Treatment of Early-Onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (TEOSS) study, a randomized, double-blind, multisite trial funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study, published in November 2008, compared the efficacy and tolerability of 3 antipsychotics—olanzapine, risperidone, and molindone—in pediatric patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Dr. Frazier discusses the unexpected findings of the TEOSS trial with Current Psychiatry Section Editor Robert A. Kowatch, MD, PhD. Based on the trial findings and her experience, she tells how she makes decisions when prescribing antipsychotics for children and adolescents with schizophrenia and related disorders.

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