Relationship between severity of alcohol dependence and presence of psychiatric symptoms in male alcoholic patients

Abstract EN

Background : Many alcoholics suffer from distress associated with psychiatric symptoms in addition to alcoholism.

Although the alcoholic might report many such symptoms, there may not be enough in any one category to meet DSMIV criteria for an additional psychiatric diagnosis, and consequently these symptoms may not be considered in planning treatment.

In addition, the prevalence and severity of psychiatric symptoms may be dependent on the progression of alcoholism.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine whether a relationship exists between patterns of psychiatric symptomatology and the level of severity of alcohol dependence in a male Qatari sample, and to describe how this information can be utilized to differentiate large groups of alcoholics into meaningful clinical categories.

Patients: The study sample was comprised of 100 alcoholic male Qatari patients from the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Unit at Hamad General Hospital in Qatar.

Methods : The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ), and the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) were administered Results Correlational analysis of the data supported the hypothesis that a positive relationship existed between the severity of alcohol dependence and the prevalence of additional psychiatric symptom patterns.

Partial correlational analysis indicated that the length of the alcoholic illness and the number of in-patient treatments for alcoholism enhanced the relationship between the severity of alcoholism and most of the symptom scales.

Conclusion : The utility of assessing concurrent psyciatric symptomology as it relates to the severity of alcohol dependence is discussed in relation to treatment planning and prognostic assessment of the patient.