Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T16:41:12.555Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

South Westminster Schizophrenia Survey

Alcohol use and Its Relationship to Symptoms, Tardive Dyskinesia and Illness Onset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter J. Duke ,
Christos Pantelis  and
Thomas R. E. Barnes
Peter J. Duke*
Affiliation:
Charing Cross & Westminster Medical School, Gordon Hospital, London SW1 2RH, St Charles Hospital, London W10
Christos Pantelis
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Private Bag No. 3, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
Thomas R. E. Barnes
Affiliation:
Charing Cross & Westminster Medical School, Gordon Hospital, London SW1 2RH
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the context of a prevalence survey of schizophrenia in South Westminster, a questionnaire was administered to 271 patients to assess alcohol-related morbidity. In this epidemiologically based sample, the lifetime prevalence of alcohol abuse was 22.1 %. Compared with control patients matched for age and sex, these index cases had a significantly shorter duration of illness. A possible explanation is that drinking may mask the onset of schizophrenia, leading to a delay in diagnosis. The index cases also had significantly higher ratings for hallucinations and for hostility, anxiety and depression, and a greater number of disturbed types of behaviour. The highest levels of alcohol consumption were associated with more severe orofacial dyskinesia, suggesting that alcohol use may be an added risk factor for the development of tardive dyskinesia in some patients. The severity of akathisia was also related to alcohol use, and there were significant relationships between the subjective distress related to akathisia and the level of abuse. A possible interpretation is that alcohol had been used by patients with akathisia to alleviate the associated agitation and dysphoria.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 164 , Issue 5 , May 1994 , pp. 630 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 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

Alterman, A. I., Erdlen, D. L., Laporte, D. J., et al (1982) Effects of illict drug use in an in-patient psychiatric population. Addictive Behaviours, 7, 231–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldessarini, R. J. & Davis, J. M. (1980) What is the best maintenance dose of neuroleptics in schizophrenia? Psychiatry Research, 3, 115–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ban, T. A. (1977) Alcoholism and schizophrenia: diagnostic and therapeutic considerations. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2, 113–117.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. R. E. (1989) A scale for rating drug-induced akathisia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 486–491.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. R. E. & Trauer, T. (1982) Reliability and validity of a tardive dyskinesia videotape rating technique. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 508–515.Google Scholar
Bernadt, M. W. & Murray, R. M. (1986) Psychiatric disorder, drinking and alcoholism: what are the links? British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 393–400.Google Scholar
Campbell, P. G., Taylor, J., Pantelis, C., et al (1990) Studies of schizophrenia in a large mental hospital proposed for closure and in two halves of an inner London borough served by the hospital. In International Perspectives in Schizophrenia (ed. Weller, M. P. I.). London: John Libbey.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1978) A reappraisal of alcoholic psychoses. Psychological Medicine, 8, 285–295.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1987) The phenomenology of acute organic psychosis: comparison with acute schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 324–332.Google Scholar
Drake, R. E., Osher, F. C., Noordsy, D. L., et al (1990) Diagnosis of alcohol use disorders in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 57–67.Google Scholar
Duke, P. J., Pantelis, C. & Barnes, T. R. E. (1991) South Westminster Schizophrenia Survey: substance abuse and its relationship to symptomatology. Biological Psychiatry, 29, 664.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Rubins, E., Guze, S., et al (1972) Diagnostic criterion for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 57–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flaum, M., Arndt, S. & Andreasen, N. C. (1990) The role of gender in studies of ventricle enlargement in schizophrenia: predominantly male effect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 1327–1332.Google Scholar
Freed, E. X. (1975) Alcoholism and schizophrenia: the search for perspectives. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 36, 853–881.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glass, I. B. (1989) Alcoholic hallucinosis: a psychiatric enigma-1. The development of an idea. 2. Follow-up studies. British Journal of Addiction, 84, 29–41, 151–164.Google Scholar
Guy, W. (1976) ECDEU Assessment Manual for Psychopharmacology (US Department of Health, Education and Welfare Publications), pp. 76–338. Rockville: National Institute for Mental Health.Google Scholar
Krawiecka, M., Goldberg, D. & Vaughn, M. (1977) A standardised psychiatric assessment scale for rating chronic psychotic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 55, 299–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lucey, J. L. & Dinan, T. G. (1992) Orofacial dyskinesia and the alcohol dependence syndrome. Psychological Medicine, 22, 79–83.Google Scholar
Lutz, E. G. (1976) Neuroleptic-induced akathisia and dystonia triggered by alcohol. Journal of the American Medical Association, 236, 2422–2423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCreadie, R. M. (1982) The Nithsdale schizophrenia survey. I. Psychiatric and social handicaps. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 582–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLellan, A. T., Druley, K. A. & Carson, J. E. (1978) Evaluation of substance abuse problems in a psychiatric hospital. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 39, 425–430.Google Scholar
Pantelis, C., Taylor, J. & Campbell, P. (1988) The South Camden schizophrenia survey - An experience of community-based research. Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 12, 98–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneier, F. R. & Siris, S. G. (1987) A review of psychoactive substance use and abuse in schizophrenia: patterns of drug choice. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 641–652.Google Scholar
Selzer, M. L. (1971) The Michigan Alcohol Screening Test; the quest for a new diagnostic instrument. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1653–1658.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. M. & Angus, J. W. S. (1970) A rating scale for extrapyramidal side-effects in drug-induced extrapyramidal disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 212, 11–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soni, S. D. & Brownlee, M. (1991) Alcohol abuse in chronic schizophrenics: implications for management in the community. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 84, 272–276.Google Scholar
Stockwell, T., Murphy, D. & Hodgson, R. (1983) The Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire: its use, reliability and validity. British Journal of Addiction, 78, 145–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wykes, T. & Sturt, E. (1986) The measurement of social behaviour in psychiatric patients: An assessment of the reliability and validity of the SBS schedule. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zung, B. J. & Charalampous, K. D. (1975) Item analysis of the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 36, 127–132.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.