Commentary: Julie M. Zito, Ph.D.

The new AACAP guidelines--'Psychopharmacological treatment for very young children'--offer a detailed review of the clinical dimensions and research findings related to medications to treat psychiatric and behavioral conditions in very young children. The text offers many caveats and cautions on the introduction of medication but algorithms, by their very nature in medical care, tend to endorse medications whenever response is deemed insufficient. And, generalizing from the experience of responses among older children is precarious when one considers the differing effect sizes of the MTA and PATs trials.

There is also limited generalizing due to the differing adverse …