PTSD and alcoholism.
PTSD is the development of symptoms after a distressful response. 52.20% of the respondents suffering from PTSD used to drink either moderately or excessively during the war. Some of their alcoholism stems from the pre-war period. According to our researches, more than one fifth (22.92%) of the respondents with PTSD consume alcohol more than they used to before the war. PTSD is frequently associated with chronic alcoholism as a kind of "self-healing". Alcoholism problem is particularly unfavourably reflected on the family of a PTSD patient, whose quality of life is already poor, due to their basic disease. Treatment of alcoholism with PTSD patients is rather demanding; emerging of PTSD is noticeable with a part of the staff who treat chronic alcoholism; what is noticed was the similarity in the intensity and frequency of the stressful responses, which is proportional to the one noticed with the staff treating AIDS patients. Chronic alcoholics are the source of strong and repetitive traumas for those who try to treat them. That is why the concern for the counter-transference responses is important while treating alcoholism.
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Psychological Medicine Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
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D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017523:Croatia; D006801:Humans; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D014857:Warfare