Epidemiological Profile of Decision Making Competent Adolescents Engaged in Mental Health Therapy

Abstract

Background: A subset of adolescents with mental disorders maintain their ability to be fully engaged in shared clinical decision making process in the context of their psychiatric treatment engagement, thereby promoting an effective therapeutic process. Aim: This paper aims at exploring the epidemiological profile of adolescents who are already engaged in mental health treatment while maintaining their ability to be fully engaged in shared decision making process.Method: A single-center cross-sectional cohort survey was conducted. A sample of fifty participants recruited from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient setting of a tertiary hospital of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. An intelligence test (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, WISC III) and a self-report measure of depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI II), in combination with a clinical assessment of participants’ practical wisdom. The mental disorders were defined and diagnosed using the ICD-10 (1992) (International Classification of Diseases), which is under a process of revision and the new edition of IDC-11 is expected to be put in effect in January 2022. At present, the last edition of ICD-10 is in use since 1992. Results: The largest percentage of adolescents (44,9%) were found to suffer from mood (affective) disorders, while 20,4% suffered from neurotic disorders. We also found pessimism (32,7%), reduction of energy (28,6%) and difficulty in concentration (32,7%) in high frequency. 22,4% of adolescents complained of sleep disorders. For the most part, the findings of our study were consistent with prior studies. However, a limited interest in sex was noted, a fact coming in contrast with international and Greek data, where interest and experimentation around sex seems to preoccupy an essential percentage of adolescents. Furthermore, sleep disorders, either as a symptom of an underlying disease, or as an independent clinical condition, seem to preoccupy adolescents and this may be a motive for their treatment engagement.Conclusion: For the most part, the findings enhanced prior studies which, however, did not exclusively include decision competent adolescents with mental disorders who were engaged in psychotherapy (for at least two months). Interestingly, however, we identified some nuances related to interest in sex and sleep disorders. Further research is recommended for the investigation of possible correlations between the lack of interest in sex or sleep disorders and the fact that the adolescents of our sample were decision making competent and engaged in psychotherapy.