Teenagers with addictive behaviour: Characteristics of the addiction and the psychiatric comorbidities

Abstract

Introduction

Addiction at a young age constitute a problem of public health. Adolescence is a period at risk for the addicting conducts.

Objectives

To establish the characteristics of the addiction and the psychiatric comorbidities.

Methods

We led a retrospective descriptive study which concerned 62 teenagers, having addicting conducts, followed in the outpatient clinic of the hospital Razi between January, 2013 and December, 2014.

Results

Tobacco is the most consumed product with 90,3% of users, followed by the alcohol (59.7%).

Fifty percent consumed the cannabis.

Benzodiazepin, Trihexyphenidyl chlorhydrate, buprenorphin with high dosage and the organic solvents were raised respectively to about 14.5%, 22.6%, 12.9% and 14.5% of the patients.

The average age of initiation for tobacco was 12 years.

The most frequent motive for consultation was behaviour disorders (37.1%).

Among our patients, 43.5% had psychiatric family history, 11.3% had undergone sexual abuse during their childhood, 17.7% had histories of suicide attempts.

The found diagnoses were the dependence in a substance (25.8%), followed by the major depressive episode (14.5%), the adjustment disorder with depressed mood (11.3%) and the bipolar disorder (8.1%).

Seventeen percent of them had personality traits who would evoke the borderline personality and 11.3% antisocial personality.

Conclusion

It is essential to diagnose and to take care of the teenagers having addicting conducts, as early as possible, to avoid transition to a chronic state in the adulthood.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.