title: Diagnosing psychiatric disorders in adolescent females with abdominal pain.
abstract: Psychiatric diseases, recently renamed psychiatric disorders by the American Psychiatric Association, are commonly associated with abdominal pain in adolescents but may be difficult to diagnose. In a prospective study, we evaluated four psychiatric scales, including the Childhood Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Speilberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) as aids in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in 40 adolescent females with abdominal pain. Final diagnosis of organic-dysfunctional disease was made in 32 patients, and a psychiatric disorder was found in eight. Only the CDI (p = 0.001) and the State (p = 0.006) and Trait (p = 0.022) scales of the STAI had significantly different mean values between subjects with organic-dysfunctional disease and a psychiatric disorder. Almost all subjects with a psychiatric disorder had abnormally high scores, whereas the subjects with organic-dysfunctional disease did not. We conclude that three brief, self-administered psychiatric scales may be useful in differentiating between organic-dysfunctional disease and a psychiatric disorder in adolescent patients with abdominal pain.
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77225.
authors: W L
authors: WL
authors: Risser
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Mullins
authors: P M
authors: PM
authors: Butler
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: West
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales