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Bacgrounds and Objective: Even though attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been considered as a childhood disorder for a long time, currently it is widely accepted that this is a disorder that continues well into adulthood. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic developmental psychiatric disorder, which starts in early childhood, although its primary symptoms can still be observed in adulthood. The main symptoms are attention loss, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity which result in mental, social, and educational/occupational problems in adulthood (1). The current study aimed to study the relationship of incarceration, suicide attempts, depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in men, who had been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (APD). There are previous studies in the literature for equivalent diagnoses (2,3).
METHODS: A total of 80 subjects, 44 of whom were diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder according to the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria in Ankara Military Hospital psychiatry clinic and 36 controls, who did not have a psychiatric diagnosis were included in the study. The subjects had been administered a semi-structured interview form for identifying their demographic properties, criminal history, and past suicide attempts. The subjects had also been given the Wender-Utah rating scale, Hamilton anxiety scale, and Hamilton depression scales. The diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder has been corroborated by a second mental health professional for all such cases.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the Wender-Utah test scores of the APD group and the control group (p<0.001). There were statistically significant differences between the WU scores of those subjects who had suicide attempts and those who did not; those who were incarcerated and those who were not and those who were diagnosed with depression and anxiety and those who were not (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The current study shows that there is a strong relationship between ADHD, anxiety, depression, incarceration, and past suicide attempts among subjects with an APD diagnosis. Better understanding of related factors in APD cases which make up a significant portion of those who have been incarcerated and have past suicide attempts may lead to more effective treatments. Overlooking comorbidity may worsen symptoms and result in resistance to treatment and thus worsen prognosis. It is important that patients with anti social personality disorder should be screened for comorbidities and that those patients should