The government is putting more money into researching autism because there aren’t a lot of good treatment options, and a study published today seems to underscore the point. The report on a large, NIH-funded trial found the popular antidepressant citalopram doesn’t appear to help kids with autism-spectrum disorders to reduce repetitive behaviors , one of the core characteristics of the condition. Antidepressants like citalopram, part of a class called SSRIs , were thought to help treat autism because they help kids with obsessive-compulsive disorder who also exhibit repetitive behaviors. Citalopram is sold as a generic by several companies and as Celexa by Forest Labs. In this randomized, controlled study, 149 children with autism and related disorders were treated with either citalopram or a placebo for 12 weeks. At the end, there wasn’t any difference between the groups in general functioning or in their repetitive behaviors. About 30% from each group were considered “much improved” at the end of the treatment period.

“In fact these medications may not be what we once that they would be, at least for children,” Yale psychiatry professor Fred Volkmar , who wrote a commentary accompanying the study, told the Health Blog. “Clinicians need to think carefully, as they always do, about psychopharmacology in children.” Though this study is about one drug, there is “some worry” about the effectiveness of the whole class of SSRIs in treating repetitive behaviors in autism, Volkmar added. Thomas Insel , director of the National Institutes of Mental Health who wasn’t involved in the study, characterized the findings as “disappointing”. “We’re still at a point where we don’t have medications for the core symptoms: deficits for social behaviors, problems with language and repetitive behaviors,” Insel told the Health Blog. “We don’t have medical interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective in double-blind controlled trials.” Photo: iStockphoto

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Study: Drug Doesn’t Reduce Repetitive Behaviors in Autism