The stability of coexisting psychiatric syndromes in alcoholic men after one year

Alcoholic men (N = 241) were administered a criterion-referenced, structured, DSM-III compatible, diagnostic interview while hospitalized and again 1 year later as outpatients. This interview independently evaluates the lifetime prevalence of 15 major psychiatric disorders. In addition to alcoholism, the most frequently occurring coexisting disorders were depression, antisocial personality and drug abuse. After 1 year, the number of positive syndromes declined slightly (chi = 2.0 to 1.8). However, the absolute and relative number of additional psychiatric syndromes remained stable over 1 year for the entire sample. Across individuals, the overall rates of agreement for the 15 syndromes ranged from a high of 100% to a low of 85%. Similarly, the agreement for the current and lifetime diagnoses ranged from 86 to 99%. These data indicate that a substantial portion of male alcoholics experience symptoms that are common to other psychiatric disorders. They also suggest that the endorsement of multiple psychiatric symptoms is not due simply to the acute emotional and physical distress that often accompanies a recent hospitalization for alcoholism treatment. Instead, for many male alcoholics, the symptom patterns appear to reflect additional psychiatric disorders that are stable over time and a potential target of treatment.