Affective and psychotic symptoms associated with anabolic steroid use.

To assess the frequency of affective and psychotic symptoms in athletes taking anabolic steroids, the authors performed structured interviews of 41 body-builders and football players who had used steroids. According to DSM-III-R, nine subjects (22%) displayed a full affective syndrome, and five (12%) displayed psychotic symptoms in association with steroid use. These findings suggest that major psychiatric symptoms may be a common adverse effect of these drugs.