my 6 year old

[carly590]

is it safe for a 6 year old to be taking Abilafy?

[ILADVOCATE]

Childhood schizophrenia is a very real criteria although clinically very rare. When I was in the psych. hospital years ago before recovery there were seperate age seperated wings for childhood schizophrenia. The use of current antipsychotics in children and the elderly have specific concerns and warnings that one can read about on the prescription labels. Psychiatrists work within those guidelines.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

This is tough to say.  Some doctors believe in doing this such as the one your child has apparently while others think it's totally bogus.  I know of one who only believes in pervasive developmental disorders as the only form of mental illness in children but I can attest to this not being true from personal experience.  I think perhaps as a last resort it should be thought of as an option.  For example I watched a video I stumbled on to when researching childhood onset schizophrenia about a 7 year old who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia who needed to be on antipsychotics to function at all and even then she was still stuck in her fantasy world with her hallucinations and such which I think might of just been her childhood imagination taking over based on her experiences at that point but this was done by Oprah and I don't entirely trust anything she makes shows about because she is so biased.

[Snakenstein]

I dont think a kid that young should be given any medication like that because there brains are still developing, and the side effects it has in older people could be so much more severe in a child. Anti depressants arent approved for children under 18 (even though there still given) and i would think it would be the same for any other medication similar. I mean, doctors dont even know the how and why to mental medication. If I may ask, why do the doctors think he needs them at such a young age?

[ILADVOCATE]

There are concerns about the use of antipsychotics in children, especially a child that young. But on some occassions it can be needed. Go to the medication website and read the full information and discuss that information with the psychiatrist and exactly why its being prescribed and why its needed and what it will treat.