BACKGROUND: In adolescents diagnosed with depressive disorders, psychiatric 
comorbidity is rather the rule than the exception.
AIM: To find the prevalence of the association between depression in adolescents 
and other psychiatric disorders and second and to study the different mental 
disorders comorbid to depression.
METHODS: We conducted a descriptive, retrospective and analytic survey carried 
on 77 subjects having been followed in the child psychiatry department of Sfax 
for depressive disorders diagnosed according to the DSM-IV TR criteria during a 
period of 9 years (from January 1st 1998 till 31st December 2006)
RESULTS: 49.3% of the youths with depression had comorbid conditions: anxiety 
disorders in 23.37% of cases, disruptive disorders in 13% of cases (conduct 
disorders in 11.7 % of cases and oppositional defiant disorders in 1.3 % of 
cases), personality disorders in 13% of cases, substance abuse in 3.9% of cases 
and alimentary behavior disturbances in 2.6% of cases. A superimposed major 
depressive disorder in adolescents with dysthymia (« Double depression ») was 
present in 10.4 of cases.
CONCLUSION: Throughout our study, we underline the frequency of the association 
between depression in teenagers and other mental disorders. The detection of 
this comorbidity has a great importance as it permits to understand the 
pathogenesis of depression in adolescents, to examine the implications of 
comorbidity for course and outcomes of this disorder and to elaborate the 
appropriate treatment.