Untreated Remission of Adolescents’ Mental Health Problems: Challenging the Treatment Gap?

Abstract

Introduction

Mental health problems are highly prevalent and are associated with a high burden, but such problems are often left untreated. This is referred to as the “treatment gap”. The question of who is most likely to remit from their mental health problems without treatment has received surprisingly little attention. A few studies do suggest that untreated remission is common in the general population, but these are in particular limited by short follow-up times.

Objectives

The aims of this study are to describe untreated remission of mental health problems in adolescence, and to assess the extent to which mental health problems recur after untreated remission.

Methods

Data from the Dutch community-based cohort study TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) were used. Depressive and anxiety problems were assessed using the Youth Self-Report at ages 11, 13, and 16, and the Adult Self-Report at ages 19 and 22.

Results

Preliminary analyses show high rates of untreated remission (approximately 80% over all waves). However, a substantial proportion of remitted cases still report sub clinical levels of mental health problems at follow-up. More elaborate analyses are ongoing, and will be presented at the conference.

Conclusions

First results suggest that untreated remission is common in adolescents. The presence of residual symptoms may point towards an elevated risk of recurrence in adolescents who remit without treatment. Further knowledge about untreated remission is of vital importance for an accurate assessment of the treatment gap, and for prevention and early intervention programmes.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.