Research summaries for autism therapy: drug

definition of drug: Chemical or medication that leads to changes in the body, usually with the goal of improving health. In some cases drugs can be abused, as in illegal drugs. Drugs include medications prescribed by medical professionals, as well as over-the-counter (OTC) medications.
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Divided Attention Capacity in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Without Intellectual Disability, Summarized Aug 3, 2010

Medications may slow down response time and disturb the ability to pay attention in adults with autism.

People with autism often have a slow response time and this is believed to be due to slowness in brain function. This study explored whether adults with autism were able to pay attention to two things at the same time. The authors found that if the adults were not on drug therapy, they were able to pay attention to two things at the same time. Thus, the slowness in response time may be something that children with autism grow out of as they age. The adults with autism who were on medication were slow to respond to two things.

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Aripiprazole in Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified and Asperger’s Disorder: A 14-Week, Prospective, Open-Label Study, Summarized Jul 22, 2010

Aripiprazole may help to improve severe irritability in children with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome.

This prospective, open-label study sought to find out if the drug aripiprazole was safe and helpful as a treatment for irritability in children with PDD-NOS and Asperger syndrome. The 14-week study found that aripiprazole was safe and may be helpful for such patients. The patients showed decreased irritability as well as increased social behavior. The authors note that there are not many studies of patients with PDD-NOS (as opposed to autism). PDD-NOS is the most common subtype of PDD and the authors called for more studies of these patients.

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Acute and Maintenance Electroconvulsive Therapy for Treatment of Severely Disabling Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in a Patient with Asperger Syndrome, Summarized Jul 15, 2010

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be helpful for people with autism who suffer from severe mental health issues that do not respond to other treatments.

Many people with autism also have other mental health issues such as bipolarity and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This case study describes the use of ECT to treat a 38 year old man with autism who suffered from prolonged and severe obsessive-compulsive symptoms as well as hypochondria. The man did not respond to drug therapy or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The patient’s health was restored after ECT.

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Levetiracetam for Managing Neurologic and Psychiatric Disorders, Summarized Jun 29, 2010

While levetiracetam is a good drug to treat epilepsy, studies do not support its use in children with autism.

This review article describes the use of the drug levetiracetam to treat autism and other problems with the brain. There are a few studies that look at whether or not levetiracem is safe and helpful for children with autism. One study showed that the drug did not help with behavior problems in children with autism. Leviracetam can cause a wide spectrum of behavioral adverse effects. Leviracetum has been shown to cause psychosis when given to some children with epilepsy.

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Synonyms for drug include: drug therapies, drug therapy, drugs
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