Stimulants Linked to Psychotic Symptoms in Offspring of Parents with Psychiatric Illness
Stimulants are one of the most common medications prescribed to children and adolescents, typically for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In children of parents with major depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, stimulant use may come with a risk of psychotic symptoms. A 2016 study by L.E. MacKenzie and colleagues in the journal Pediatrics reported that among children and youth whose parents had one of these psychiatric illnesses, 62.5% of those who had taken stimulants had current psychotic symptoms, compared to only 27.4% of those who had not taken stimulants. The participants with psychotic symptoms tended to have hallucinations that occurred while they were taking stimulants. Doctors may want to consider whether parents have a history of psychiatric illness when deciding whether to prescribe stimulants to children and adolescents with ADHD. Activation is a common side effect of antidepressants in children who have a parent with bipolar disorder. Young people taking stimulants for ADHD should be monitored for psychotic symptoms, particularly if they have a parent with a history of depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
