Medicating Childhood Anxiety: What the FDA's Approval of Escitalopram for Kids Really Tells Us About Risk, Evidence, and Trust

Medicating Childhood Anxiety: What the FDA's Approval of Escitalopram for Kids Really Tells Us About Risk, Evidence, and Trust

From Psychology Tidbits by Circle Of Insight Productions

June 8, 2026 · 8 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the implications of the FDA's approval of escitalopram for treating childhood anxiety, focusing on the associated risks and the influence of industry funding on research.

In 2023 the FDA approved escitalopram, sold as Lexapro, for generalized anxiety disorder in children as young as seven, a decision resting largely on a single industry-sponsored trial that showed only a modest statistical advantage over placebo on the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale. What that approval did not make headlines for was the roughly sixfold increase in treatment-emergent suicidal ideation observed in the trial data, a finding that puts the entire risk-benefit calculus into sharp relief for clinicians and families alike. This episode breaks down the trial methodology, what the evidence actually supports, how industry funding shapes the research landscape in pediatric psychopharmacology, and what psychologists and parents need to understand before accepting a prescription as a first-line answer to a child's anxiety.

Topics covered

  • childhood anxiety
  • FDA approval
  • psychopharmacology
  • risk-benefit analysis
  • pediatric mental health

Keywords

  • escitalopram
  • Lexapro
  • anxiety treatment
  • pediatric psychopharmacology
  • suicidal ideation
  • clinical trials
  • FDA
  • mental health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FDA

Products: escitalopram, Lexapro

Books & works: Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale

Places: United States

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