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Peer-reviewed article

Medical Therapy for Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors in a Teen With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Teens with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit sexual behaviors in public that are disturbing to parents, teachers, and peers. Some have proposed that such behaviors can be curtailed with hormonal suppression. There is information on…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 20161 min readin Pediatrics

Teens with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit sexual behaviors in public that are disturbing to parents, teachers, and peers. Some have proposed that such behaviors can be curtailed with hormonal suppression. There is information on the Internet suggesting that such medications work, and some reports in the peer-reviewed medical literature support these claims. Such medications can have serious side effects. In this paper, we present a case in which parents requested such treatment of their teenage son with autism spectrum disorder.

Originally published at Pediatrics · January 1, 2016.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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