UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

» More autistic children in the UK should be given drugs like Prozac to control their symptoms, an expert said today.

Professor Eric Hollander said a class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had been shown to reduce anxiety and disruptive behaviours.

SSRIs are a class of drugs that treat depression but can also be prescribed for other conditions such panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety.

About 37 per cent of children with autism in the United States are taking SSRIs but Prof Hollander said the figure was a "lot less" in the UK.

"I do think that many of these individuals can benefit from this type of treatment," he said.

"It really should be considered as part of an overall treatment package."

Prof Hollander, who is chairman of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said UK clinicians may "not be comfortable" using these types of medicines, but trials suggested there were benefits of intervening at a young age.

He said those with autism seemed to do well on low doses of Prozac and showed improvement in just a short period of time, perhaps just three or four weeks.

They displayed fewer "endless ritual" behaviours, less anxiety and better social interaction, he went on.

The Best Treatments website is more cautious about the benefits of prozac on autistic children. However it says that doctors have been known to prescribe Prozac if an autistic child also has depression or anxiety or does the same actions over and over again.

It adds that boosting levels of serotonin have been shown to improve mood and social interaction.

The Mount Sinai School where Prof Hollander works is a shareholder in the company Neuropharm. It is developing Prozac for use in autistic children.

In 2006, Neuropharm acquired the rights to develop fluoxetine (the generic name for Prozac) for use in autism from the Mount Sinai School.

Prof Hollander was granted Orphan Drug Designation for the drug in 1999, according to the firm's website. The Orphan Drug Act offers companies incentives to develop drugs for the treatment of people with rare disorders.

My daughter was put on Prozac many years ago and I think it has helped her to some extent. She is still on it now.