The quantitative measurement of depression and anxiety in male alcoholics.

Depression and anxiety have been reported to be commonly associated with alcoholism. Most attempts to clarify this relationship have suffered from a patient selection bias in that only those alcoholics who sought treatment were studied. The authors performed quantitative measurements of depression and anxiety in a group of 48 men referred for treatment solely on the basis of excessive drinking. The prevalence of depression and anxiety as measured by both the Zung and Hamilton scales was lower than that shown in previous studies. The results of this study indicate that problems in young, healthy male alcoholics.