DMDD: The Diagnosis Meant to Decrease BPD Diagnoses and Decrease Prescription Medication

Abstract

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, also known as DMDD, was introduced in 2013 to help decrease the number of diagnoses of bipolar disorder (BPD) while also hoping to help reduce the amount of prescription medication that was being prescribed to young children and adolescents that were diagnosed with pediatric bipolar disorder. Instead, there seems to be an increase in prescription medications as first-line treatment, specifically antipsychotics (as well as other psychiatric drugs). The hope of this paper is to showcase how disruptive mood dysregulation disorder diagnoses did not accomplish what it set out to do. Rather than decrease the number of prescriptions being prescribed to young children and adolescents, it actually increased the number of prescriptions being prescribed, which include six reasons as to why prescribing medications to children with DMDD happened, including more acceptance of psychiatric drugs, with an increase in awareness comes an increase in knowledge, non-pharmacological treatments not being offered, non-pharmacological treatments too lengthy for families & clinicians, and prescription drugs are a quick and easy fix. There are even adverse effects that could happen if children and adolescents are prescribed prescription medication in terms of their endocrine and cardiovascular health.