Diagnosing affective disorder in adolescents: the use of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia.

The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia was administered to 42 consecutively hospitalized psychiatrically disturbed adolescents. The SADS proved to be a good measure of current affective disorder and also identified a large number of adolescents with a positive past history of affective disorder. These patients had not been so identified by traditional assessment means. The use of a semi-structured interview is to be encouraged in the assessment period of psychiatrically disturbed adolescents and in further research at attempts to define the parameters of depressive disorders occurring in adolescents.