Psychiatric evaluation services to court referred drug users

This paper reports on the description and outcome of one hundred youthful drug abusers referred from family court for psychiatric evaluation and treatment recommendation. The average referral, both male and female, was a 16-year-old white Catholic from a middle class background who was diagnosed as having a personality disorder. Significantly more males than females showed pathology in early childhood such as behavior problems in school and hyperactivity. Follow-up data collected up to 6 months after evaluation and treatment recommendation indicated that approximately half of the clients showed improvement in terms of work and/or school adjustment, social relations, and drug use.