Predicting the posttreatment depressive state of an alcoholic patient

Seventy-eight patients admitted to an alcohol treatment program were studied to identify variables capable of forecasting a patient's posttreatment depressive state. Factor analysis reduced a large number of items to 12 factors. Pearson correlations showed that Factor VII--Physical and Neurological Complaints and the pretreatment depressive state were both significantly (p = .002) correlated to the posttreatment depressive state. Multiple regression yielded a significant equation (p = .001) confirming that an alcoholic patient who has a high level of pretreatment depression and physical/neurological complaints, and who exhibits little or no irritability or agitation will tend to sustain a high level of posttreatment depression.