Related Experiment Videos
Axis I and axis II comorbidity in alcohol dependence and the two types of alcoholism
M Driessen1, C Veltrup, T Wetterling
1Department of Psychiatry, Luebeck School of Medicine, Germany.
Background:
Although high prevalence rates of psychiatric comorbidity were reported in alcoholism, there is a lack of studies covering the whole spectrum of DSM Axes I and II disorders. The relation of comorbid psychopathology and Cloninger's and Babor's types of alcoholism still remained unclear.
Methods:
Psychiatric comorbidity in 250 hospitalized alcohol-dependent patients without additional substance-related disorders was assessed by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and the International Personality Disorder Examination. Information about the course and severity of alcoholism was obtained from several sources.
Results:
Additional Axis I disorders only were found in 24.0%, Axis II disorders only in 16.4%, and concurrent Axis I and Axis II disorders in 17.2% (total comorbidity rate: 57.6%). Two clusters of alcohol dependence were found that substantially overlap with Cloninger's and Babor's types of alcoholism. The majority of type A subjects were found to be either not comorbid at all, or to be Axis I comorbid only. Type B, on the other hand, was preferably associated with personality disorders (mainly Clusters A and B) and dimensional scores of personality pathology (schizoid, schizotypal, all Cluster B, and passive-aggressive).
Conclusions:
The entire spectrum of personality pathology should be assessed in the comorbidity research of alcoholism. The two types of alcoholism differ on a variety of alcohol-related and comorbid personality characteristics, but further research is needed to clarify the underlying psychological and biological associations.