<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Background. Alcohol addiction is a very common and complex disease. Alcohol addicted patients have a high risk for developing comorbid psychiatric disorder. Methods. In the present study, we explored symptom expression and severity for the most common comorbid mental disorders in Slovenian alcohol addicted patients. Three groups of male subjects were included: 101 acutely alcohol-addicted inpatients, 100 former alcohol-addicted subjects and 97 healthy controls from a blood donors group. The following questionnaires were employed: AUDIT, Zung Depression and Anxiety scale, Brief Social Phobia Scale, Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale, and Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Results. Acutely addicted patients showed significantly more obsessive (p&lt;0.001) and compulsive (p&lt;0.001) symptoms and also more obsessive-compulsive symptoms of relying on alcohol consumption (p&lt;0.001) compared to the other two groups. Acutely addicted patients showed significantly more anxiety (p&lt;0.001) as well as depressive (p&lt;0.001) and aggressive (p&lt;0.001) traits compared to the other two groups. Conclusions. Obsessive-compulsive, anxious, depressive and aggressive traits can be comorbidities associated with alcohol addiction. Increased attention to these symptoms during the treatment of alcohol addiction could result in better outcome of alcohol addiction treatment and lower relapse rate</p></abstract>

Background. Alcohol addiction is a very common and complex disease. Alcohol addicted patients have a high risk for developing comorbid psychiatric disorder. Methods. In the present study, we explored symptom expression and severity for the most common comorbid mental disorders in Slovenian alcohol addicted patients. Three groups of male subjects were included: 101 acutely alcohol-addicted inpatients, 100 former alcohol-addicted subjects and 97 healthy controls from a blood donors group. The following questionnaires were employed: AUDIT, Zung Depression and Anxiety scale, Brief Social Phobia Scale, Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale, and Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Results. Acutely addicted patients showed significantly more obsessive (p<0.001) and compulsive (p<0.001) symptoms and also more obsessive-compulsive symptoms of relying on alcohol consumption (p<0.001) compared to the other two groups. Acutely addicted patients showed significantly more anxiety (p<0.001) as well as depressive (p<0.001) and aggressive (p<0.001) traits compared to the other two groups. Conclusions. Obsessive-compulsive, anxious, depressive and aggressive traits can be comorbidities associated with alcohol addiction. Increased attention to these symptoms during the treatment of alcohol addiction could result in better outcome of alcohol addiction treatment and lower relapse rate

Expression of Symptoms of the Most Common Comorbid Mental Disorders in Slovenian Alcohol Addicted Patients

Univerzitetni klinični center Maribor, Oddelek za psihiatrijo, Ob železnici 30, 2000 Maribor, Slovenija

Univerza v Ljubljani, Medicinska fakulteta, Inštitut za biokemijo, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija

Psihiatrična klinika Ljubljana, Studenec 48, 1260 Ljubljana, Slovenija

Slovenian Journal of Public Health

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Background. Alcohol addiction is a very common and complex disease. Alcohol addicted patients have a high risk for developing comorbid psychiatric disorder....

Expression of Symptoms of the Most Common Comorbid Mental Disorders in Slovenian Alcohol Addicted Patients

Published Online: Jul 02, 2014

Page range: 248 - 254

Received: Jan 06, 2014

Accepted: Apr 08, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2014-0026

Keywords
alcohol addiction, comorbidity, questionnaires, obsessions, compulsions, anxiety, depressive symptoms, aggression

© Slovenian Journal of Public Health

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Expression of Symptoms of the Most Common Comorbid Mental Disorders in Slovenian Alcohol Addicted Patients

Published Online: Jul 02, 2014

Page range: 248 - 254

Received: Jan 06, 2014

Accepted: Apr 08, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2014-0026

Keywordsalcohol addiction, comorbidity, questionnaires, obsessions, compulsions, anxiety, depressive symptoms, aggression

© Slovenian Journal of Public Health

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords
alcohol addiction, comorbidity, questionnaires, obsessions, compulsions, anxiety, depressive symptoms, aggression