C&A question

[witzelsucht]

Hey guys,

I'm writing a...uh, fictional short story for my errr, humanities in medicine interest group, and I've got a protagonist who is thrust into the spotlight as a celebrity. In the story, he has a fictional 10 year old son on the spectrum, and the evil protagonist needs to drug him up for some large public events with lots of noise and stimuli. What sorts of meds would the evil psychiatrist give this child to make him, you know, well behaved and socially ok? This will be to emphasize a point about ethics, etc.

Thanks!

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[DJspreadsheet]

Hey guys,

I'm writing a...uh, fictional short story for my errr, humanities in medicine interest group, and I've got a protagonist who is thrust into the spotlight as a celebrity. In the story, he has a fictional 10 year old son on the spectrum, and the evil protagonist needs to drug him up for some large public events with lots of noise and stimuli. What sorts of meds would the evil psychiatrist give this child to make him, you know, well behaved and socially ok? This will be to emphasize a point about ethics, etc.

Thanks!

olanzapine and 4 loaves of bread

 

[Amygdarya]

Risperdal?

 

[FlowRate]

I'm writing a...uh, fictional short story for my errr, humanities in medicine interest group,

Are you "asking for a friend"? Why else would anyone write this way?

On a separate note, I find the psychiatric treatment of developmental delay / spectrum somewhat bewildering. It seems to be "make 'em sleepy" most of the time.

 

[StrangerFigs]

uh, fictional short story for my errr, humanities in medicine interest grou

So...this makes it sound like YOU are the one who has a child with autism and wants a magical medication fix.

to make him, you know, well behaved and socially ok

This isn't what medications do...at best, the child would be sedated but there's no medicine that makes someone behave politely/engage in a socially appropriate manner.

 

[witzelsucht]

So...this makes it sound like YOU are the one who has a child with autism and wants a magical medication fix.



This isn't what medications do...at best, the child would be sedated but there's no medicine that makes someone behave politely/engage in a socially appropriate manner.

Sorry, I thought it was obvious what I was trying to imply with this question. A lot of people think Baron Trump may be a teensy bit special and I was curious what sorts of things they are pumping him full of to tolerate the parades and rallies, which must be the absolute worst case scenario for such a situaion. I'm an EM resident so the only psych drugs I am even aware of the existence of are haldol and ativan which is probably not going to give the desired effect. So I was curious what a hypothetical unethical psychiatrist would chose to take the edge off.

 

[SmallBird]

Sorry, I thought it was obvious what I was trying to imply with this question. A lot of people think Baron Trump may be a teensy bit special and I was curious what sorts of things they are pumping him full of to tolerate the parades and rallies, which must be the absolute worst case scenario for such a situaion. I'm an EM resident so the only psych drugs I am even aware of the existence of are haldol and ativan which is probably not going to give the desired effect. So I was curious what a hypothetical unethical psychiatrist would chose to take the edge off.

Wow, that was really not obvious haha

Let me answer a different question that may contain information you want - despite what some have posted in this thread, the evidence base for the psychopharmacologic treatment of behavior symptoms of ASD is quite robust (at least compared to many things in child psychiatry). There are multiple, positive trials of risperidone and aripiprazole and effect sizes in meta-analysis are around 0.7. Note these are not particularly sedating agents and in fact one study of olanzapine was negative (although likely underpowered), and animal data has shown that risperidone may have a primary serenic effect without reducing locomotion (e.g., translational barriers aside, it can reduce aggressive behavior without causing sedation). There is a much better evidence base and risk profile for treating behavioral symptoms of ASD than dementia where effect sizes are much smaller and mortality risk is increased.

 

[clausewitz2]

Wow, that was really not obvious haha

Let me answer a different question that may contain information you want - despite what some have posted in this thread, the evidence base for the psychopharmacologic treatment of behavior symptoms of ASD is quite robust (at least compared to many things in child psychiatry). There are multiple, positive trials of risperidone and aripiprazole and effect sizes in meta-analysis are around 0.7. Note these are not particularly sedating agents and in fact one study of olanzapine was negative (although likely underpowered), and animal data has shown that risperidone may have a primary serenic effect without reducing locomotion (e.g., translational barriers aside, it can reduce aggressive behavior without causing sedation). There is a much better evidence base and risk profile for treating behavioral symptoms of ASD than dementia where effect sizes are much smaller and mortality risk is increased.

Dementia being an area where people famously brag about how the meds are so great and have wonderful effects?

 

[SmallBird]

Dementia being an area where people famously brag about how the meds are so great and have wonderful effects?

No, not at all, I didn't mean to imply that. The situation is terrible for dementia, it's OK for developmental disabilities.

 

[Merovinge]

Wow, that was really not obvious haha

Let me answer a different question that may contain information you want - despite what some have posted in this thread, the evidence base for the psychopharmacologic treatment of behavior symptoms of ASD is quite robust (at least compared to many things in child psychiatry). There are multiple, positive trials of risperidone and aripiprazole and effect sizes in meta-analysis are around 0.7. Note these are not particularly sedating agents and in fact one study of olanzapine was negative (although likely underpowered), and animal data has shown that risperidone may have a primary serenic effect without reducing locomotion (e.g., translational barriers aside, it can reduce aggressive behavior without causing sedation). There is a much better evidence base and risk profile for treating behavioral symptoms of ASD than dementia where effect sizes are much smaller and mortality risk is increased.

Evidence is probably better for treatment of ASD aggression than depression to be honest and many other psychiatric treatments.