title: Anxiety as a predictor of relapse in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of mood, affect, and personality on predicting relapse in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients to uncontrolled drinking during a 1-year treatment study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 521 patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of alcohol dependence, excluding those with major depressive disorder, took part in a European multicentre study (11 centres in the United Kingdom, Irish Republic, Switzerland, and Austria). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Hamilton Depression Scale, whereas symptoms of anxiety were measured using the 'STAI-X2' of the self-rating scale State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and personality traits were measured by the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High anxiety as a stable trait, and personality traits such as high novelty seeking and low harm avoidance covering exploratory excitability, impulsiveness, extravagance, disorderliness and uninhibited optimism, predicted relapse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These measures could have a direct clinical application for predicting relapse to uncontrolled drinking in male and female detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. The findings indicate the importance of additional therapeutic treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital for Psychiatry, Vienna and University of Economics, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Willinger
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lenzinger
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hornik
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schönbeck
authors.forename: Harald N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Aschauer
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meszaros
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012008:Recurrence; D013695:Temperance