[Who attends the department of child psychiatry? Visits to a child and adolescent psychiatry center in Gothenburg over five years].

All case-records of first-time visitors to an outpatient child and adolescent psychiatric centre from 1992 to 1996 were reviewed, and re-diagnosis was performed according to DSM-III-R. Assessment procedures and routines were seen to change over this period as awareness of neuropsychiatric disorders increased. Slightly more than 5% of all children in the catchment area (10,522 individuals) sought psychiatric help during the study period; about 40% of these made 1-3 visits. One fifth of health care resources was consumed by 2% of all clinic attenders. Fewer than 50% were seen by a psychiatrist. Half were living in single-parent families, one third had experienced mild stress, and nearly one third had been exposed to marked psychosocial stress. The proportion of patients receiving a neuropsychiatric diagnosis rose markedly from 24% in 1992 to 45% in 1996.