Impulse-Control Disorders in Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract

Impulse-control disorders are common among adolescent psychiatric inpatients, with a trend toward impulse-control disorders being more common in girls. Impulse-control disorders appear associated with more severe psychiatric illness. Sex-specific patterns of impulse-control disorder occurrence in adults do not appear uniformly applicable to adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Better identification of impulse-control disorders in adolescents is needed, as are empirically validated treatments for adolescents with co-occurring impulse-control disorders.