Prevalence and comorbidity of Axis I and Axis II disorders among treatment refractory adolescents admitted for specialized psychotherapy

Research shows that approximately half of the adolescents in a clinical setting suffer from a personality disorder (PD). This finding has not yet been replicated in Europe. To test whether this finding also applies to Europe, structured diagnostic interviews for both Axis I and Axis II disorders were used in 257 adolescents who were admitted to a highly specialized mental health setting in The Netherlands. In this study we found that 40.5% of the adolescents were diagnosed with at least one personality disorder. Most adolescents with a personality disorder (78.9%) also suffered from one or more Axis I disorders. These results are comparable to rates found in previous prevalence studies of personality disorders in both adolescents and adults. Our results provide further evidence to support the cross-national generalizability of the diagnosis of PD in adolescents.