Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Feb 25;18(3):324.
doi: 10.3390/ph18030324.

Available Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Old Strategies to New Options

Affiliations
Review

Available Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Old Strategies to New Options

Liliana Dell'Osso et al. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). .

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition that is gaining increasing interest in research and clinical fields. Due to the improvement of screening programs and diagnostic procedures, an increasing number of cases are reaching clinical attention. Despite this, the available pharmacological options for treating ASD-related symptoms are still very limited, and while a wide number of studies are focused on children or adolescents, there is a need to increase research about the treatment of ASD in adult subjects. Given this framework, this work aims to review the available literature about pharmacological treatments for ASD, from older strategies to possible new therapeutic targets for this condition, which are often poorly responsive to available resources. The literature, besides confirming the efficacy of the approved drugs for ASD, shows a lack of adequate research for several psychopharmacological treatments despite possible promising results that need to be further investigated.

Keywords: ASD; new options; pharmacological treatments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Selected pharmacological articles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Selected non pharmacological articles.

References

    1. Dell’Osso L., Carpita B. What misdiagnoses do women with autism spectrum disorder receive in the DSM-5? CNS Spectr. 2023;28:269–270. doi: 10.1017/S1092852922000037. - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association Publishing; Washington, DC, USA: 2022. Text Revision (DSM-5-TR Fifth edition, text revision)
    1. World Health Organization . ICD-11: International Classification of Diseases (11th Revision) World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2019.
    1. Dell’Osso L., Amatori G., Cremone I.M., Massimetti E., Nardi B., Gravina D., Benedetti F., Muscatello M.R.A., Pompili M., Politi P., et al. Autistic and Catatonic Spectrum Symptoms in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Brain Sci. 2023;13:1175. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13081175. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dell’Osso L., Cremone I.M., Nardi B., Tognini V., Castellani L., Perrone P., Amatori G., Carpita B. Comorbidity and Overlaps between Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: State of the Art. Brain Sci. 2023;13:862. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13060862. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources