Psychiatric syndromes in adolescent substance abusers

There is little available information concerning the prevalence of psychiatric syndromes among adolescent patients who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. In order to isolate correlations between substance abuse patterns and specific adolescent psychiatric syndromes, 57 adolescents who had been referred for inpatient treatment of substance abuse were evaluated for the presence of psychiatric disorders. Half of the patients were seriously depressed, and 20 still met the criteria for major depressive episode at the end of the third week of hospitalization. Conduct disorder and the combination of attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsiveness were the next most prevalent diagnoses. The incidence of phobias, or irrational fears, was surprisingly low.