Course and Outcome of Somatoform Disorders in Non-Referred Adolescents

The author examined the course of somatoform disorders in non-referred adolescents. Somatoform disorders were coded from DSM–IV criteria, using the computerized Munich (Germany) version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. About 35.9% of the adolescents with somatoform disorders at the index investigation continued to have the same disorders at the follow-up investigation: 26.7% had anxiety, 17.1% had depression, 22% had substance-use disorders, and 53.7% had no psychiatric disorders. Factors related to the chronicity of somatoform disorders included gender, comorbid depressive disorders, parental psychiatric disorders, and negative life events. Somatoform disorders showed a heterogeneous pattern of course.