Types and phases of alcohol dependence illness.
The published data based on retrospective recall support the position that there is a characteristic developmental sequence of clinical signs and symptoms in alcohol dependence illness. These symptoms cluster in three sequential temporal phases: psychological dependence, physiological dependence, and neurological disorganization. Individuals may discontinue alcohol consumption during any phase and are not doomed to complete the sequence. Attempts to develop subtypes of alcohol-dependent individuals are generally based on inadequate samples from nonrepresentative treatment centers, many of whose patients are not alcohol dependent. The proposed essential-reactive, primary-affective, and life-style typologies have very weak support. Studies repeatedly confirm sociopathic, depressed, and anxious subgroups of alcohol dependent patients. However, such classifications have not been able to encompass more than one-half of the treatment populations studied. These concurrent symptom types are more prevalent in publicly operated treatment facilities and are predictive of recovery.
D000339:Affect; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D013997:Time Factors