engleski

The Comorbidity of Alcoholism and Anxious Depressive Disorders

The alcoholics frequently report that they had certain episodes of depression and anxiety. The mechanism underlying this comorbidity is not entirely clear. The clinical findings confirm that the anxious and depressive disorders can lead to the development of alcoholism. Reversely, alcoholism can contribute to the development of anxious or depressive disorders. Family studies bring more knowledge about the greater incidence of anxious disorders among the family members of alcoholics, as well as the other way around, suggesting that both disturbances share the same causative factors. One of the factors that could contribute to this comorbidity is the factor of &#8220 ; self-treatment&#8221 ; , where the alcohol serves the individual as the means for the reduction of anxious or depressive symptoms. Quoting the previous findings from the numerous family, prospective clinical studies in the field of comorbidity of alcoholism and mental disturbances, the authors present data about the degree of incidence of anxious and depressive disorders among the patient treated for alcoholism at the Department of Psychiatry, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital, The Referral Centre for Alcoholism of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, during the 1999. The also give the incidence of anxious and depressive disorders according to sex, age and the presence of heredity. This investigation gives another confirmation of the presence of comorbidity of alcoholism and mental disturbances among alcoholics, what has a great significance in planning of treatment for such patients, who should be included in the combined treatment.

alcoholism; comorbidity; anxiety; depression

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