Current Status of Psychopharmacological, Neuromodulation, and Oxytocin Treatments for Autism: Implications for Clinical Practice
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Abstract Objectives To provide an overview of the current literature regarding the neurobiological treatments of psychopharmacology, neuromodulation, oxytocin therapy, and psychological resilience, as treatments for autism-related difficulties, and to distil the research findings from those treatments for everyday clinical application. Methods Instead of producing another specific systematic summary of the efficacy of these treatments, this review took an overview of each field of research, identified its key research findings, and evaluated the treatment-ready status of each of them in terms of their evidence base. From this information, a set of recommendations were derived for their clinical applications, so as to inform practice in the field. Results These treatments represent relatively recent and neurobiologically based approaches to the challenges of autism, and are in the development stage. Each treatment is promising, and has some evidential basis for its success, but all need further research to establish their evidence-based validity for everyday clinical usage. Conclusions While most of these treatments can be applied with caution, clinicians should acknowledge their restrictive benefits and costs, that are described herein. Within those caveats, each of these treatments should be considered as an emerging therapy that clinicians should consider utilising in appropriate settings and with specific cases.
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Riordan et al. is included as a normal part of the scientific literature in articles contributing to meta-analyses and reviews or aiding interpretation of newly reported data.
“Instead, this retracted article is included as a normal part of the scientific literature in these articles, contributing to metaanalyses and reviews of the current state of stem cell science19,20 or aiding the interpretation of newly reported data.21,22”
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The References section lists Riordan et al. (2019) without a retraction warning, supporting the narrower point that this review includes it as a literature reference. The Method section describes this paper as an overview for clinicians, not a meta-analysis; our copy does not show Riordan contributing to a stem-cell meta-analysis or aiding interpretation of newly reported data, and it does not establish the article’s retraction status. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Bitsika, V., & Sharpley, C. F.
- Affiliations
- University of New England (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Sharpley, Christopher F.
- Venue
- Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Published
- 2023-09-26
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 355-364
- ISSN
- 2366-7532 (ISSN-L)
- 2366-7540
- OpenAlex
- W4387004001
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 0.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RUNE (Research UNE) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- University of New England
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, psychopharmacology, neuromodulation, oxytocin therapy, psychological resilience, treatment readiness, clinical guidelines, evidence base, new drugs
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