To find out whether a long-term physical illness since childhood increases the risk of experiencing psychological and somatic symptoms, we interviewed a group of 487 patients aged 20–25 years and compared these findings to 211 controls. Both somatic (χ² = 9.11, d.f. = 6, p < 0.001) and psychological (χ² = 11.0, d.f. = 6, p < 0.001) symptom indexes varied significantly between the patient groups. Female sex, family conflicts during childhood, poor scholastic performance and depressive mental disorders were especially observed to be significant risk factors related to an excessive occurrence of these symptoms. The results suggest that a disabling disease lasting from childhood until adulthood is complicated by a significant incidence of both psychological and somatic symptoms.

To assess whether juvenile‐onset epilepsy or motor disability is complicated by an increased number of mental health disorders or experience of psychosomatic symptoms in young adulthood, we studied 81 subjects with epilepsy and 52 with motor disabilities at the age of 19 to 25 years and compared them with 211 controls. The main diagnostic tool, the Present State Examination, was administered to those attending the interviews in person who were of normal intelligence; there were 62, 38, and 123 subjects in the three categories, respectively. Compared with the controls, the subjects with epilepsy showed an equal prevalence of psychiatric disorders whereas those with motor disabilities had a significantly higher prevalence, particularly of depressive disorders. The reported prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms confirmed this main result. Psychological illness affected everyday life of two out of five subjects with motor disabilities, but only half of those in the other two groups. It is concluded that motor disability since childhood, but not epilepsy, could be a factor that increases susceptibility to psychiatric morbidity, especially depression, and causes a large number of psychosomatic symptoms. The results challenge staff of clinics working with such adolescents to find individual approaches in preventing the negative influence of psychological disorders on social life.