Deprescribing & Polypharmacy at AACAP Annual Meeting 2026

Tuesday, October 27

• 14:00–16:00 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

  Review of Discontinuation Symptoms Secondary to Psychotropic Medications: Strategies in Assessment, Management, and Risk Mitigation

  Conor Wilson

  Reviews psychotropic discontinuation symptoms and approaches to assessing, managing, and reducing risk.

  Child & Adolescent

Wednesday, October 28

• 12:00–13:30 · Lecture

  Best Practices for Deprescribing and Conservative Prescribing to Avoid Polypharmacy in Borderline Personality Disorder

  Amber R. Lemons

  Discusses deprescribing and conservative prescribing strategies to limit polypharmacy in borderline personality disorder.

  Child & Adolescent · Personality Disorders

• 14:30–16:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

  Polypharmacy in Foster Care: Contributing Factors, Trauma-Informed Care, and Deprescribing

  Wynne S. Morgan

  Examines why youth in foster care often receive multiple psychotropic medications, and how trauma-informed approaches can guide deprescribing.

  Child & Adolescent · PTSD & Trauma

• 14:30–16:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

  Psychotropic Oversight and Ethical Tensions

  Gail Ann Edelsohn

  Discusses oversight of psychotropic prescribing for youth and the ethical tensions that arise in that oversight.

  Child & Adolescent · Practice, Policy & Workforce

• 14:30–16:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

  Review of Intentional Discontinuation and Practical Strategies for Deprescribing

  Terry Git Lee

  Reviews intentional medication discontinuation and offers practical strategies for deprescribing in youth.

  Child & Adolescent

• Course · Institute

  Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Neurotherapeutics: The When and How of Initiating and Discontinuing Interventions

  Robyn P. Thom · Neera Ghaziuddin · Graham J. Emslie · Robert L. Findling · Raman Baweja · Bekir B. Artukoglu · Lee Wachtel

  Institute organized around starting and stopping treatment across antidepressants, antipsychotics, and stimulants, plus pediatric ECT and the psychotherapeutic dimensions of prescribing, with faculty including Graham Emslie and Robert Findling.

  Antipsychotic Prescribing · Child & Adolescent · Neuromodulation (ECT, TMS)

• Symposium · Clinical Perspectives

  Unraveling Polypharmacy in Youth and the Path to Thoughtful Deprescribing

  Gail Ann Edelsohn · Boris Lorberg · Wynne S. Morgan · Terry Git Lee

  Clinical perspectives session on why psychotropic polypharmacy accumulates in young patients and how to deprescribe thoughtfully and safely.

  Child & Adolescent

Posters (1)

• Antipsychotic Polypharmacy in Hospitalized Adolescents and Young Adults: Predictors, Clinical Correlates, and Postdischarge Outcomes — Koki Haruguchi et al.

Thursday, October 29

• 07:00–08:30 · Session

  Navigating the Complexities of Deprescribing in Child Psychiatry

  Jennifer McLaren

  An interactive consultation on using shared decision-making and deprescribing in child psychiatry, including how social determinants of health create barriers. It reviews cases, literature, and practical tools such as a decision aid and an antipsychotic deprescribing protocol.

  Antipsychotic Prescribing · Child & Adolescent · Diverse & Underserved Populations

Posters (1)

• Primary Care Implications of Psychiatric Polypharmacy in Adolescents With ASD — Nandini Sarkar et al.

Friday, October 30

• 19:00–21:30 · Session · Media Theatre

  This is Not About Me : When Behavior Is a Language We Don’t Speak

  Michael Murray · Erin M. Edwards · Shannon Welch

  Screening of a documentary about a non-speaking autistic young woman, followed by an interdisciplinary panel on how communication access affects diagnostic accuracy and psychotropic prescribing in autistic youth.

  Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders · Child & Adolescent · Measurement-Based Care & Diagnosis

Saturday, October 31

• 09:00–11:00 · Session · Clinical Perspectives

  Statewide Program for Review of Psychotropic Prescribing for Children in Child Welfare: 15-Year Experience

  Andres J. Pumariega · Mark Chenven · Jody L. Brown · Takahiro Soda · Young Jo

  Reviews fifteen years of experience with a statewide program that reviews psychotropic prescribing for children in the child welfare system.

  Child & Adolescent · Practice, Policy & Workforce

• 10:00–12:00 · Session

  Disentangling the Developmental Origins of Challenging Behaviors: The Intersection of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Trauma

  Danielle R. Shaw · Julie A. Kable · Claire D. Coles · Jason Yanes · Laura Jane Miller

  Clinical case conference using three patient cases to show how to assess and diagnose neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure alongside trauma. Covers medication choices, limiting polypharmacy, and evidence-based non-drug interventions.

  Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders · Child & Adolescent · PTSD & Trauma

• 13:00–15:00 · Session

  Smarter Prescribing in Youth With Intellectual Developmental Disorder: Treating Aggression, Reducing Polypharmacy, and Addressing Supplements

  Pankhuree Vandana · Kathleen A. Koth · Jennifer McLaren · Narpinder Malhi · Lisa C. Yeh

  Clinical perspectives on prescribing for youth with intellectual developmental disorder, covering aggression treatment, reducing polypharmacy and the use of supplements.

  Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders · Child & Adolescent

• 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

  Psychotropic Polypharmacy in Intellectual Developmental Disorder: Key Considerations and Strategies for Safe Discontinuation

  Narpinder Malhi

  Covers considerations for reducing and safely discontinuing multiple psychotropic medications in youth with intellectual developmental disorder.

  Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders · Child & Adolescent