Comorbid psychopathology in adolescents and young adults treated for substance use disorders: a review.
OBJECTIVE
In a recent review, the prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders in non-treated adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders (SUD) in the general population was summarized. This review looks into the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in adolescents and young adults treated for SUD.


METHODS
A computerized literature search was conducted resulting in ten eligible studies.


RESULTS
The prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders varied from 61% to 88%. Externalizing disorders, especially Conduct Disorder (CD), were most consistently linked to SUD in treatment seeking adolescents. Girls are distinguished by their high rate of comorbid internalizing disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
Comparison with data from community and juvenile justice studies shows an ascending trend of comorbidity rates of externalizing disorders from community to clinical and finally to juvenile justice samples. It seems that young addicts with comorbid disorders are at high risk of ending up in the juvenile justice system.
Couwenbergh
Christianne
C
Dept. of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre & the Academic Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Oost-Nederland, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. C.Couwenbergh@psy.umcn.nl
van den Brink
Wim
W
Zwart
Kirsten
K
Vreugdenhil
Coby
C
van Wijngaarden-Cremers
Patricia
P
van der Gaag
Rutger J
RJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*