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Alcohol Dependence and Phobic Anxiety States II. a Retrospective Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Tim Stockwell ,
Penelope Smail ,
Ray Hodgson  and
Sandra Canter
Tim Stockwell*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, 101 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Penelope Smail
Affiliation:
Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex
Ray Hodgson
Affiliation:
Top Grade Psychologist, Whitechurch Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Sandra Canter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford
*
∗Correspondence.
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Summary

Twenty-four hospitalised problem drinkers who were currently suffering from a phobic anxiety state served as subjects for this study. Each was given a detailed retrospective interview concerned with the development over time of both their alcohol dependence and phobic problems. The test-retest and inter-rater reliabilities of the data collected were found to be high. In accordance with previous experimental work, periods of heavy drinking and dependence upon alcohol were associated with an exacerbation of agoraphobia and social phobias. Subsequent periods of abstinence were associated with substantial improvements in these phobic anxiety states. It is suggested that both learning and psychobiological processes underly these observed relationships and that the implications of this finding for treatment of both disorders should be explored.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 58 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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