Depressive symptoms in alcohol dependent subjects

: In the presence of contradictory estimations of frequency of depression among alcoholics, 84 in-patients from Department of Psychiatry, Medical Academy in Gdansk, and from psychiatric hospitals in Starogard Gdanski and in Frombork were studied; 64 were male and 22 female. The RDC criteria as well as SADS-L were used. In 13 subjects (15.5%) past depressive episodes were diagnosed; among them in 7 patients major depression, and in 6--minor depressive disorders were established. The diagnosis of bipolar disorder was made in 2 patients and unipolar--in 4 cases. In a half of patients the affective disorders preceded the alcohol initiation.