Application of the MacAndrew alcoholism scale to alcoholics with psychiatric diagnoses

The MacAndrew Alcoholism scale scores of 140 male patients from a large VA hospital were examined to assess whether the MAC scale can detect alcoholism among patients with psychiatric diagnoses. There were five diagnostic groups, each with 28 patients: alcoholics, alcoholics with neurotic disorders, alcoholics with personality disorders, nonalcoholic patients with neurotic disorders, and nonalcoholic patients with personality disorders. The MAC scale was able to differentiate alcoholics and nonalcoholic psychiatric patients, but was unable to differentiate either of the alcoholic psychiatric groups from its nonalcoholic psychiatric counterpart. Thus, it appears that the MAC scale may be unable to identify alcoholism among patients with combined alcoholic-psychiatric diagnoses.