Abusers of alcohol immediately prior to pension

In the granting of a disability pension to an alcohol abuser society is taking a somewhat controversial step. In order to elucidate the overall situation of these abusers, the quality of life of 61 abusing applicants was examined. The sample represents all 78 first-time applicants during an 18-month period in a geographically defined region in the county of Ostergötland in Sweden. As expected, apart from their extensive abuse, the applicants were in bad psychiatric-psychological condition and demonstrated severe neuro-psychological and biochemical disturbances. In addition, their social network was somewhat restricted and also otherwise rather problematic. These deviations were evident in relation to a matched group of newly pensioned non-abusers. In comparison with another more closely matched group of abusers undergoing rehabilitation, the differences appeared mainly within the psychiatric-psychological sphere. This is a report in a series from the research project "Abuse of alcohol - Disability pension - Quality of life".