Psychopharmacology in school-based mental health services

The use of pharmacological approaches in the treatment of children with serious emotional and mental disorders has become increasingly accepted and proven to be an important component of overall care. Increasingly, greater numbers of children attend school under pharmacological treatment, and such treatment is increasingly used to address behavioral difficulties that interfere with learning within school-based mental health services. However, the appropriate use of such agents and the use of psychiatric diagnosis in their selection continue to be topics of discussion in the lay and educational literature. This article will address the current state of psychopharmacological treatment for diagnostic entities and behavioral symptomatology, which can present in the context of the classroom and in school-based mental health services. The roles of the child and family, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and other health and educational professionals in treatment selection and implementation is discussed. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.