The occurrence of mental illness is high in juveniles in detention centers and they are at an even higher risk for psychiatric disorders five years after their release, according to a study published in The JAMA Network Journals.
Researchers studied comorbidity, the concurrence of two or more disorders at the same time and how they evolve over a period of time, according to Science Daily. Karen M. Abram from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and her colleagues used data from a group of 1,829 young people and followed up between 2000 and 2004. The average age of offenders was 20.
The study showed that about 27 percent of males and 14 percent of females had at least two psychiatric disorders. The most common profile in males (one in six) was substance abuse plus a behavior disorder. The young people who had three or more disorders during the beginning of the study ended up with additional problems within the five years (almost all of the males and three-quarters of the females).
"Many psychiatric disorders first appear in childhood and adolescence," study authors concluded. "Early-onset psychiatric disorders are among the illnesses ranked highest in the World Health Organization's estimates of the global burden of disease, creating annual costs of $247 billion in the United States. Successful primary and secondary prevention of psychiatric disorders will reduce costs to individuals, families and society. Only a concerted effort to address the many needs of delinquent youth will help them thrive in adulthood."
