Clinical Perspective

The diagnosis and treatment of delirium in children

Published in: Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health
Volume 21 , issue 2 , 2009 , pages: 157–165

DOI: 10.2989/JCAMH.2009.21.2.7.1015

Author(s): Sean Hatherill Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Africa , AlanJ Flisher Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Africa , Rene Nassen Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Africa

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Abstract

Delirium is commonly encountered in the setting of paediatric consultation-liaison psychiatry. However, it is commonly misdiagnosed as current operational diagnostic criteria may be difficult to apply in children. We present a practical approach to eliciting the signs and symptoms of delirium in children and a proposed treatment algorithm which elaborates a variety of environmental management strategies and includes explicit thresholds for the use of antipsychotic medications.

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