[Comorbidity of depression with other psychiatric disorders in adolescents: about 77 cases].

BACKGROUND

In adolescents diagnosed with depressive disorders, psychiatric comorbidity is rather the rule than the exception.

AIM: To find the prevalence of the association between depression in adolescents and other psychiatric disorders and second and to study the different mental disorders comorbid to depression.

METHODS

We conducted a descriptive, retrospective and analytic survey carried on 77 subjects having been followed in the child psychiatry department of Sfax for depressive disorders diagnosed according to the DSM-IV TR criteria during a period of 9 years (from January 1st 1998 till 31st December 2006)

RESULTS

49.3% of the youths with depression had comorbid conditions: anxiety disorders in 23.37% of cases, disruptive disorders in 13% of cases (conduct disorders in 11.7 % of cases and oppositional defiant disorders in 1.3 % of cases), personality disorders in 13% of cases, substance abuse in 3.9% of cases and alimentary behavior disturbances in 2.6% of cases. A superimposed major depressive disorder in adolescents with dysthymia (« Double depression ») was present in 10.4 of cases.

CONCLUSION

Throughout our study, we underline the frequency of the association between depression in teenagers and other mental disorders. The detection of this comorbidity has a great importance as it permits to understand the pathogenesis of depression in adolescents, to examine the implications of comorbidity for course and outcomes of this disorder and to elaborate the appropriate treatment.