Psychopathology in Adolescence: An Epidemiological Study

A cumulative psychiatric case register was utilized to examine patterns of psychopathology in 1,334 adolescent patients. Consistent with studies of adult patients, seriousness of disorder was weighted toward being seen in an inpatient rather than outpatient settling; schizophrenia and personality disorder were relatively more common amoung lower-class patients and neurosis and situational disorder among middle- and upper-class patients; neurosis was more commonly diagnosed among female patients, and personality disorder more commonly diagnosed among males. A ten-year follow-up revealed 54.1% reasonable diagnostic stability on subsequent contacts and 62.2% complete subsequent agreement among patients originally diagnosed as schizophrenic. Aspects of the data demonstrate continuity in adolescent and adult psychopathology, the mythical nature of "normative adolescent turmoil," and what appears to be excesive use of situational disorder in diagnosing adolescent patients.

[1]  M. Grob,et al.  Adolescent patients in transition : impact and outcome of psychiatric hospitalization , 1975 .

[2]  J. I. Pichel.  A long-term follow-up study of 60 adolescent psychiatric outpatients. , 1974, The American journal of psychiatry.

[3]  L. King,et al.  A Six Year Follow-Up Study of Sixty-Five Adolescent Patients: Predictive Value of Presenting Clinical Picture , 1969, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[4]  E. Z. Levy.  Long-term follow-up of former inpatients at the Children's Hospital of the Menninger Clinic. , 1969, The American journal of psychiatry.

[5]  Felix Brown,et al.  Normal Adolescence: Its Dynamics and Impact , 1968 .

[6]  E. Hartmann,et al.  Adolescents in a Mental Hospital , 1968 .

[7]  J. Masterson.  The Psychiatric Dilemma of Adolescence , 1968 .

[8]  J. Masterson.  The psychiatric significance of adolescent turmoil. , 1968, The American journal of psychiatry.

[9]  J. Masterson.  The symptomatic adolescent five years later: he didn't grow out of it. , 1967, The American journal of psychiatry.

[10]  A. Bahn,et al.  Adolescent patients served in outpatient psychiatric clinics. , 1965, American journal of public health and the nation's health.

[11]  E. A. Gardner,et al.  DIAGNOSTIC CONSISTENCY AND CHANGE IN A FOLLOW-UP STUDY OF 1215 PATIENTS. , 1965, The American journal of psychiatry.

[12]  E. Stengel,et al.  Suicide and Attempted Suicide , 1965 .

[13]  E. A. Gardner,et al.  ALL PSYCHIATRIC EXPERIENCE IN A COMMUNITY; A CUMULATIVE SURVEY: REPORT OF THE FIRST YEAR'S EXPERIENCE. , 1963, Archives of general psychiatry.

[14]  E. A. Gardner,et al.  A CUMULATIVE REGISTER OF PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES IN A COMMUNITY. , 1963, American journal of public health and the nation's health.

[15]  E. Geleerd.  Some Aspects of Ego Vicissitudes in Adolescence , 1961, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

[16]  R. G. Hunt,et al.  Social Class and Mental Illness , 1959 .

[17]  I. Josselyn.  The ego in adolescence. , 1954, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[18]  Gardner Ge.  The mental health of normal adolescents. , 1947 .

[19]  G. Goldstein,et al.  A follow-up study of hospitalized adolescents. , 1974, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[20]  L. Salzman.  Adolescence: Epoch or Disease?. , 1973 .

[21]  B. Garber.  Follow-up study of hospitalized adolescents , 1972 .

[22]  I. Weiner.  Psychological disturbance in adolescence , 1970 .

[23]  Stephen Lee,et al.  Social class, diagnosis, and prognosis for psychotherapy. , 1970 .

[24]  Peter Bios.  Selected Problems of Adolescence , 1969 .

[25]  M. Despres,et al.  The stormy decade : adolescence , 1958 .