Beyond behavior management: Addressing the effects of antipsychotics in children

The number of antipsychotic prescriptions for children has risen significantly in the past 20 years, even though children are 50% more likely than adults to experience debilitating side effects from those medications. In 2021, 1.7% of U.S. children were prescribed antipsychotic medications compared with just 0.3% in 2000 (George et al., 2021). According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), antipsychotics can be prescribed to children as young as 1 year of age to manage aggression (Center for Evidence-Based Policy, 2023; FDA, 2026).