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Adolescent adjustment disorder: Precipitant stressors and distress symptoms of 89 outpatients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Mirjami Pelkonen ,
Mauri Marttunen ,
Markus Henriksson  and
Jouko Lönnqvist
Mirjami Pelkonen*
Affiliation:
National Public Health Institute, Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, Helsinki, Finland Department of Social Psychiatry, University of Tampere, Tampere School of Public Health, Tampere, Finland
Mauri Marttunen
Affiliation:
Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Peijas Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, Vantaa, Finland University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, Oulu, Finland
Markus Henriksson
Affiliation:
Centre for Military Medicine, Finnish Defence Forces, Lahti, Finland
Jouko Lönnqvist
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland. Tel.: +358 9 47448213; fax: +358 9 47448478. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Pelkonen), mauri. [email protected] (M. Marttunen), [email protected] (M. Henriksson), [email protected] (J. Lönnqvist).
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Abstract

Objective

Research on adolescent adjustment disorder (AD) is scarce. We characterized adolescent outpatients with AD in psychosocial background and treatment received compared with patients with other non-psychotic disorders (OND). Furthermore, we explored precipitant stressors, distress symptoms and behavioral problems among males and females with AD.

Method

Data were collected prospectively on 290 consecutive psychiatric outpatients, aged 12–22 yrs, at a secondary care clinic in Finland. DSM-III-R diagnoses were assigned, based on all available information, at the end of treatment.

Results

AD was the second most common diagnosis among non-psychotic patients (31% of 290). Compared to OND-patients, those with AD were predominantly female and had less severe psychosocial impairment. In multivariate comparisons school-related stressors, problems with law and restlessness characterized males, and parental illness and internalizing symptoms females with AD. Intensity and duration of treatment of AD-patients varied widely.

Conclusions

Adjustment disorder comprised a common clinical entity among adolescent outpatients. Psychiatric assessment and treatment should be individually targeted by taking into account gender-specific stressors and distress symptoms among young people with AD.

Keywords

AdolescenceAdjustment disorderPsychiatric treatmentPrecipitant stressorsDistress symptoms
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , July 2007 , pp. 288 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2007

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