Abstract
Objective:
Assesment of clinical characteristics of adolescents who had been admitted to the child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinics may contribute to the construction of adolescent departments that are few in our country. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographical characteristics, complaints, psychiatric diagnoses, scheduled treatments and follow-up periods of adolescents who had been admitted to the child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinics.
Method:
Chart reviews of 12-19 aged 755 adolescents who had been admitted to Hacettepe University Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department for the first time between 2004 and 2005 were examined retrospectively.
Results:
The number of boys was more than girls and their mean age was lower than girls. The most common psychiatric diagnoses were disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders and mood disorders. The treatments were pharmacotherapy in 496 adolescents (65,7%) and individual psychotherapy in 36 (4,8%) adolescents. In 512 (77,8%) adolescents the follow-up period was shorter than six months, whereas in 146 (22,2%) adolescents it was longer than six months.
Discussion:
Complaints and psychiatric diagnoses of adolescents were discussed in comparison to the findings in the literature. 13% of adolescents were identified as showing normal developmental characteristics of adolescence, and %5 of adolescents were followed without a special psychiatric diagnosis. These findings show that problems of the adolescence period may not be determined by diagnostic criteria only.
Keywords: Adolescent, psychiatric disorder, outpatients clinic
