Researchers have found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are very effective in treating children and adolescents with paediatric anxiety disorder. They reached the conclusion after examining common medications prescribed for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed anti-depressants, which can ease symptoms of moderate to severe depression and cause fewer side effects compared with other anti-depressants. Symptoms of anxiety include recurring fears, aversions to social situations as well as being unable to control worries. It could manifest into a troubled sleep, difficulty in concentrating, and heart and digestive issues.
According to the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health disorder in children. This meta-analysis provides guidance in terms of medication-specific differences in efficacy and tolerability among medications, commonly used to treat pediatric patients with anxiety disorders. For the study, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina studied 2,623 patients, aged 11 and a half years on average. Patients with social anxiety disorders with moderate severity were randomly assigned to receive medication or placebo and had.
The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, showed among anxious youth treatment response was more effective with SSRIs than with serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). While SSRIs were the most tolerable class of medication, tricyclic antidepressants were the least tolerable, findings revealed. The findings confirm the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s recommendations that SSRIs should be considered as the first line of medication treatment for anxiety in youth.
