Primary and secondary depression in alcoholism--clinical features and family history

One hundred thirty-six alcoholic inpatients were studied with regard to the association between alcoholism and depression. They fell into three groups: primary depression, secondary depression and non-depressive alcoholism. The main results obtained are as follows: (1) Depression was found in 46 patients (33.8%) in the present or past history; 13 were regarded as primary depression and 33 as secondary depression. (2) The clinical symptoms and the background of the primary group resembled those of endogenous depression. (3) The clinical features, including the duration of depressive episodes in the secondary depression group differed from those in the primary group. (4) No statistically significant differences were noted as to the rates of family-history of alcoholism and depression among the three groups. Clinical and biological differences between the primary and secondary groups were discussed on the basis of these results.