[Alcoholism and depression (Note apropos of a survey using Beck's inventary]

The authors summarize recent works that correlate depression and alcoholism. They give the result of an inquiry: 38 patients (7 women and 31 men) admitted for alcoholism were given the Beck inventory for measuring depressio;. Most of the men (18) were not voluntary for entering hospital; they were not depressed clinically and in the results of the Beck inventory (mean score=12,1). 13 men were voluntary for treating their alcoholism, most of them were clearly depressed (mean score=23.3). There is a good concordance between clinical data and Beck scores. This reminds us that depression may masquerade as alcoholism.