Depressive symptoms among hospitalized and posthospitalized alcoholics in Yugoslavia

Two clinical samples of male and female alcoholics undergoing inpatient hospital and posthospital treatment in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, were evaluated for depressive symptomatology and extent of alcoholism, using self-report measures (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and Michigan Alcohol Screening Test). Higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower alcoholism scores were reported for the hospital group, in comparison with the posttreatment "Clubs of Treated Alcoholics" group. In the hospital, no significant relationships were found between levels of depression and extent of alcoholic indicators. In the club group, however, those alcoholics who remained depressed (at minimal or mild levels) are also those who perceived themselves as having greater consequences from the alcoholism. The cultural context and psychosocial drinking and postdrinking environments of the alcoholics and their families appear to be important factors in the decline of depressive symptoms among treated, abstinent alcoholics, as well as in the retention of such symptoms among a subset of the sober alcoholics. This suggests that treatment should place a high priority on reordering the social and personal life of the alcoholic and his or her family while also retaining whatever nondrinking social ties that the alcoholic had developed and valued before treatment.