Psychosocial characteristics of adolescents with a past history of dysthymic disorder: comparison with adolescents with past histories of major depressive and non-affective disorders, and never mentally ill controls.

Little is known about the psychosocial functioning of persons who have recovered from dysthymic disorder. Such information might be useful in identifying trait markers for dysthymia, and for guiding continuation and maintenance treatment. We explored this issue using data from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project, a large community-based study of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in a high school population. Four groups of adolescents were identified: 38 with a past history of dysthymic disorder; 217 with a past history of major depressive disorder; 142 with a past history of non-affective disorders; and 1079 with no lifetime history of psychopathology. The groups were compared on an extensive battery of psychosocial variables. The most consistent and diagnostically specific finding was that adolescents with a past history of dysthymic disorder reported having a significantly lower level of social support from friends than each of the other three groups of adolescents. Adolescents with a past history of dysthymic disorder also reported significantly higher levels of depressive, internalizing and externalizing symptoms and daily hassles than adolescents with no lifetime history of psychopathology. In addition, they reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and self-consciousness, but fewer externalizing symptoms than adolescents with a past history of non-affective disorders. These data suggest that adolescents with dysthymic disorder continue to experience significant difficulties in psychosocial functioning even after recovery.