Culturally adapted pharmacotherapy and the integrative formulation.

There are important ethnic variations in metabolism, response, and tolerability of psychotropic medications. There has been a dramatic expansion of use of psychotropic medications in children in recent years. This article reviews the literature on the role of race and ethnicity in psychopharmacology as it relates to children and adolescents, examines what is known thus far about complementary and alternative medicine approaches in pediatric psychopharmacology, and presents a method to engage patients and families of varying educational and cultural backgrounds in pharmacotherapeutic treatment.