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More than half of adolescent psychiatric disorders untreated

Most young people with psychiatric disorders such as phobias and anxiety do not receive treatment, according to an analysis published in Psychiatric Services.

E. Jane Costello, PhD, professor of psychology and epidemiology at Duke University and associate director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) to determine 12-month rates of service use for adolescent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders.

According to their findings, among the 45% of adolescents with psychiatric disorders who received service during the 12-month period, utilization occurred most often among adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (73.8%), conduct disorder (73.4%) or oppositional defiant disorder (71%). Conversely, adolescents with specific phobias or any anxiety disorder were least likely to receive services (40.7% and 41.4%), according to the abstract.

Services were least often received in general medical settings (10.1%), followed by specialty mental health settings (22.8%) and school settings (23.6%). Other sources of care included juvenile justice (4.5%), complementary and specialty medicine (5.3%) and human services (7.9%) settings.

Major depressive disorder and ADHD accounted for psychiatric disorders among the largest proportion of youth seeking services from general medical providers (17.6% and 17.3%, respectively). Additionally, general providers were almost twice as likely to see those with an impulse control disorder (165 youths) as those with major depressive disorder (95 youths) or ADHD (71 youths), according to the study findings.

Compared with white adolescents, black adolescents were significantly less likely to receive specialty mental health or general medical services for mental disorders, researchers wrote.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of all reseearchers’ relevant financial disclosures.