A Parent's Guide to Starting Psychiatric Medications for Kids: Start Low and Go Slow

A simple guidebook, cowritten by three doctors, to answer all the questions caregivers have about medicating their children for mental illness

For parents and caregivers, considering psychiatric medications for your child can be scary and overwhelming as they weigh the risks and benefits. A Parent's Guide to Starting Psychiatric Medications for Kids boils down the process of evaluating children and deciding whether to use medication, and then explores different classes of medications in detail, from the side effects to ongoing monitoring. Three child psychiatrists from New York's Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Alexander Kolevzon, MD; Robert Jaffe, MD; and Pilar Trelles, MD, combine their years of research and experience to deliver a straightforward, accessible Q&A guidebook for parents and caregivers.

Whether you are considering medications for ADHD, anxiety, depression, or autism, this guide empowers you to ask your provider all the tough questions to ensure you are comfortable and confident in your journey of exploring psychiatric medications for your child.

Author: Alexander Kolevzon, Pilar Trelles, Robert Jaffe
Publisher: Familius
Published: 03/04/2025
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9798893960457

About the Author
Alex Kolevzon, MD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with more than 20 years of clinical and research experience. He is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York where he serves as the Clinical Director of the Seaver Autism for Research and Treatment. His research is focused on developing new treatments for people with neurodevelopmental disorders, which include behavioral interventions, medications, and gene therapy. He is also the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for the Mount Sinai Health System. In this role, Alex is dedicated to ensuring children, adolescents, and families across New York City receive the best possible care from experts at Mount Sinai, advancing science across childhood psychiatric disorders, and training the next generation of clinicians specializing in children's mental health. Alex is also passionate about education; he is a frequently invited speaker nationally and internationally and has won numerous awards as an active teacher, mentor, and clinical supervisor. Robbie Jaffe, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he is the Training Director for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Robbie teaches the psychiatrists of tomorrow as the Program Director for Mount Sinai's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship. Robbie runs a teaching clinic working with a team of fellows, psychologists, and social workers to help kids and teens with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and tics and Tourette's disorder. He is also the Director of the Tourette Association of America's Center of Excellence at Mount Sinai, where he researches novel treatments for Tourette's disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He has written chapters and given invited lectures on tic disorders and how they interact with anxiety, OCD, and ADHD. Pilar Trelles, MD, is a native Peruvian but spent 20 years in the New York City area where she completed her postgraduate training in general psychiatry at New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, and child and adolescent psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. After child psychiatry training, she pursued an additional specialized fellowship in neurodevelopmental disorders, also at Mount Sinai, where she focused on using genetics to advance therapeutics in the field. She is currently faculty at Harvard Medical School and works at Boston Children Hospital, where she leads psychiatric care for children with autism spectrum disorder and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in psychiatric clinical trials more broadly. Pilar is passionate about working with caregivers and other stakeholders to bridge advances in the field of child psychiatry to community care and has participated in multiple research projects and educational initiatives with this goal in mind.