The United States is an outlier among developed countries in the use of antipsychotics for children: American kids are about 8.7 times more likely to be on these medications compared with kids in Germany, 56 times more likely compared with kids in Norway, and about 93 times more likely compared with kids in Italy.30 The most dramatic and obvious side effects of the atypical antipsychotic medications are metabolic: kids who take these medications are much more likely to become obese and develop diabetes.
