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Correlates of Alcohol Use Among Methadone Patients
Author(s) -
ElBassel Nabila,
Schilling Robert F.,
Turnbull Joanne E.,
Su KuoHsien
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1993.tb00819.x
Subject(s) - psychiatry , methadone maintenance , logistic regression , alcohol abuse , detoxification (alternative medicine) , somatization , anxiety , methadone , depression (economics) , alcohol dependence , alcohol , medicine , substance abuse , psychology , clinical psychology , alternative medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
This study examines the predictors of alcoholism among 201 patients from three methadone maintenance treatment programs (MMTPs) in New York City. Using the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test, one‐fifth of the sample met criteria for alcohol dependence. Few subjects were currently enrolled in any form of chemical dependency treatment other than MMTP. Alcoholics started to use alcohol at an early age, and almost every alcoholic subject admitted to alcohol abuse before entering MMTPs. More alcoholics than nonalcoholics reported symptoms of somatization, obsessive‐compulsive behavior, depression, phobic anxiety, and psychosis. Logistic regression indicated that alcoholism among MMTP patients was associated with years drinking, years of sharing needles, utilization of drug abuse detoxification but not alcohol detoxification, smaller increases in methadone dosage over time, and psychiatric symptomatology. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for designing more efficacious treatment approaches for dually addicted patients in MMTPs.