Citation

Fuehrlein B, Ralevski E, O'Brien E, Jane JS, Arias AJ, Petrakis IL. Addict. Behav. 2014; 39(2): 374-378.

Affiliation

VISN I Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), USA; VA Connecticut Healthcare System, and Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 950 Campbell Ave, #116-A, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.08.026

PMID

24090619

Abstract

Alcohol use disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly prevalent and commonly co-occur, notably in veterans. We explored differences in the pre-treatment characteristics of veterans with alcohol dependence (AD) alone compared to those with co-occurring AD and PTSD. Veterans were recruited to participate in two different treatment studies and baseline characteristics were compared. Those with co-occurring illnesses demonstrated significantly higher pre-treatment pathology across all psychopathological domains. While those with AD alone averaged more days of drinking and had more heavy drinking days, those with co-occurring illnesses reported more drinking-related symptoms. The presence of a major depressive episode had no effect on drinking. Within the PTSD group, combat exposure was associated with increased drinking independent of the severity of PTSD symptoms. This study underscores the importance of screening for comorbidity in clinical treatment settings, and for collecting detailed drinking histories and assessing psychiatric symptoms across all domains of psychopathology.

Language: en