Emotional problems in children; the uses of drugs in therapeutic management.

Emotional disturbances in children may be due to an anxiety state, to obsessive-compulsive neurosis, to schizophrenia or to a brain injury causing a behavior disorder. Children in an anxiety state have difficulty in school because anxiety interferes with concentration, impairs memory and makes decisions difficult. Consequently, these children often fear school and express their anxiety by behavior disturbances which alienate them from parents and teachers. There are a number of chemotherapeutic agents physicians can use as a part of the treatment of emotionally disturbed children. Phenobarbital is valuable for short-term therapy for the anxious child. Meprobamate also may be prescribed for anxiety reactions. It is of limited value for the hyperkinetic and obsessive-compulsive child and of no value in the schizophrenic child. Atarax (hydroxyzine dihydrochloride) is beneficial for the neurotic and hyperkinetic brain-injured child. Children with severe anxiety reactions and schizophrenic disorders respond best to chlorpromazine or reserpine.It must be emphasized that drug therapy is a part of the total therapeutic attack on the emotional problems of children.