Aripiprazole and Autism Ranking:

Audience

Aripiprazole is licenced by the US Federal Drugs Administration to treat a variety of mental health problems in adults, teenagers and children.
It is also licenced to treat children 6 to 17 years of age who have autistic disorder with irritable behaviour such as aggression, temper tantrums, and frequent mood changes.  In practice, it is sometimes used with older people on the autism spectrum.

According to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2017) 

"Aripiprazole is used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia (a mental illness that causes disturbed or unusual thinking, loss of interest in life, and strong or inappropriate emotions) in adults and teenagers 13 years of age and older. It is also used alone or with other medications to treat episodes of mania or mixed episodes (symptoms of mania and depression that happen together) in adults, teenagers, and children 10 years of age and older with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder; a disease that causes episodes of depression, episodes of mania, and other abnormal moods). Aripiprazole is also used with an antidepressant to treat depression when symptoms cannot be controlled by the antidepressant alone. Aripiprazole is also used to treat children 6 to 17 years of age who have autistic disorder (a developmental problem that causes difficulty communicating and interacting with others). Aripiprazole may help control irritable behavior such as aggression, temper tantrums, and frequent mood changes in these children."

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Jul 2018

Next Review

01 Mar 2024