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

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