Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T18:40:46.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatric Disorder, Drinking and Alcoholism:

What are the Links?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Morris W. Bernadt  and
Robin M. Murray
Morris W. Bernadt*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS
Robin M. Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We studied 371 psychiatric admissions in an attempt to relate primary and secondary diagnosis, psychopathology, and stated reasons for drinking to alcohol consumption and alcoholism. No diagnostic group other than the alcoholics drank significantly more than the mean, and the schizophrenics drank less. One-third of those with bipolar and minor depression increased their drinking in the month before admission, but this was almost offset by those with similar diagnoses who drank less. Alcoholism, though not alcohol consumption, was related to a high prevalence of affective syndromes, but these did not amount to secondary diagnoses. Drinking for ‘escape reasons' was significantly associated with consumption levels, but the reasons patients gave did not correspond well with the objective presence or severity of the associated psychiatric symptoms.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 4 , April 1986 , pp. 393 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baxter, S. & Murray, R. M. (1985) Unpublished data.Google Scholar
Bernadt, M. W., Mumford, J. & Murray, R. M. (1984) Can accurate drinking histories be obtained from psychiatric patients by a nurse conducting screening interviews? British Journal of Addiction, 79, 201–206.Google Scholar
Bowen, R. C., Cipywnyk, D., D'Arcy, C. & Keegan, D. (1984). Alcoholism, anxiety disorders and agoraphobia. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 8, 48–50.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. H., Weissman, M. M., Thompson, W. D. & Myers, J. K. (1983). Different definitions of alcoholism, I. Impact of seven definitions on prevalence rates in a community survey. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1309–1313.Google Scholar
Cadoret, R. & Winokur, G. (1974) Depression in alcoholism. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 233, 34–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caetano, R., Edwards, G., Oppenheim, A. N. & Taylor, C. (1978) Building a standardised alcoholism interview schedule. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 3, 185–197.Google Scholar
Cahalan, D. & Cisin, I. H. (1968a) American drinking practices: summary of findings from a national probability sample. I. Extent of drinking by population subgroups. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 29, 130–151.Google Scholar
Cahalan, D. & Cisin, I. H. (1968b) American drinking practices: summary of findings from a national probability sample. II. Measurement of massed versus spaced drinking. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 29, 642–656.Google Scholar
Cartwright, A. K. J., Shaw, S. J. & Spratley, T. A. (1978) The relationship between per capita consumption, drinking patterns and alcohol related problems in a population sample, 1965–1974. Part I: Increased consumption and changes in drinking patterns. British Journal of Addiction, 73, 237–246.Google Scholar
Cassidy, W. L., Flanagan, N. B., Spellman, M. & Cohen, M. E. (1957). Clinical observations in manic-depressive disease. Journal of the American Medical Association, 164, 1535–1546.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1965) Some statistical issues in psychological research. In Handbook of Clinical Psychology (ed. Wolman, B. B.) New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1978) A reappraisal of alcoholic psychoses. Psychological Medicine, 8, 285–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, G., Chandler, J. & Hensman, C. (1972) Drinking in a London suburb. 1. Correlates of normal drinking. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Suppl. 6, 69–93.Google Scholar
Ewusi-Mensah, I., Saunders, J. B., Wodak, A. D., Murray, R. M. & Williams, R. (1983) Psychiatric morbidity in patients with alcoholic liver disease. British Medical Journal, 287, 1417–1419.Google Scholar
Fowler, R. C., Liskow, B. I. & Tanna, V. L. (1980) Alcoholism, depression and life events. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2, 127–135.Google Scholar
Freed, E. X. (1970). Alcoholism and manic-depressive disorders. Some perspectives. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 31, 62–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hesselbrock, M. N., Hesselbrock, V. M., Tennen, H., Meyer, R. E. & Workman, K. L. (1983) Methodological considerations in the assessment of depression in alcoholics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 399–405.Google Scholar
Himmelhoch, J. M., Mulla, D., Neil, J. F., Detre, T. P. & Kupfer, D. J. (1976) Incidence and significance of mixed affective states in a bipolar population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 1062–1066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keeler, M. H., Taylor, C. I. & Miller, W. C. (1979) Are all recently detoxified alcoholics depressed? American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 136, 586–588.Google Scholar
Littleton, J. M. (1984) Alcohol, alcoholism and affect. In Pharmacological Treatments for Alcoholism (eds. Edwards, G. & Littleton, J.). London: Croom-Hclm.Google Scholar
Morrison, J. R. (1974) Bipolar affective disorder and alcoholism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 1130–1133.Google ScholarPubMed
Mullaney, J. A. & Trippett, C. J. (1979) Alcohol dependence and phobias: clinical description and relevance. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 565–573.Google Scholar
Murray, R. M., Gurling, H. M. D., Bernadt, M., Ewusi-Mensah, I., Saunders, J. D. & Clifford, C. A. (1984) Do personality and psychiatric disorder predispose to alcoholism? In Pharmacological Treatments for Alcoholism (eds. Edwards, G. & Littleton, J.). London: Croom-Helm.Google Scholar
Murray, R. P. (1978) Manitoba Health and Drinking Survey. The social epidemiology of alcohol use in Eastman region. Winnipeg: University of Winnipeg.Google Scholar
Pottenger, M., McKernon, J., Patrie, L. E., Weissman, M. M., Ruben, H. L. & Newberry, P. (1978) The frequency and persistence of depressive symptoms in the alcohol abuser. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 166, 562–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reich, C. H., Davies, R. K. & Himmelhoch, J. M. (1974) Excessive alcohol use in manic-depressive illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 83–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, E., Gentry, K. A., Munoz, R. A. & Morten, S. (1977) A contrast of the three more common illnesses with the ten less common in a study and 18-month follow-up of 314 psychiatric emergency room patients. II. Characteristics of patients with the three more common illnesses. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 269–281.Google Scholar
Ron, M. A. (1977) Brain damage in chronic alcoholism: a neuropathological, neuroradiological and psychological review. Psychological Medicine, 7, 103–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1979) Alcohol and Alcoholism. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Schuckit, M. A. (1979) Alcoholism and affective disorder: diagnostic confusion. In Alcoholism and Affective Disorders (eds Goodwin, D. W. & Erikson, C. K.). New York: Spectrum.Google Scholar
Schuckit, M. A. (1983) Alcoholic patients with secondary depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 711–714.Google Scholar
Shaw, J. A., Donly, P., Morgan, D. W. & Robinson, J. A. (1975) Treatment of depression in alcoholics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 641–644.Google Scholar
Smail, P., Stockwell, T., Canter, S. & Hodgson, R. (1984) Alcohol dependence and phobic anxiety states. I. A prevalence study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 53–57.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). New York: Biometrics Research, New York Stote Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Pottenger, M., Kleber, H., Ruben, H. L., Williams, D. & Thompson, W. D. (1977) Symptom patterns in primary and secondary depression. A comparison of primary depressives with depressed opiate addicts, alcoholics and schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 854–862.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Myers, K. J. (1980) Clinical depression in alcoholism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 372–373.Google Scholar
Welkowitz, J., Ewen, R. B. & Cohen, J. (1971) Introductory Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorious, N. (1974) Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winokur, G., Cadoret, R., Dorzab, J. & Baker, M. (1971) Depressive disease. A genetic study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 24, 135–144.Google Scholar
Woodruff, R. A., Guze, S. B., Clayton, P. J. & Carr, D. (1973) Alcoholism and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 97–100.Google Scholar
Zielinski, J. J. (1979) Psychological test data of depressed, non-depressed and relapsed alcoholics receiving pharmacological aversion. British Journal of Addiction, 74, 175–182.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.