Depression and relapses in treated chronic alcoholics.

In a sample of 99 male alcoholics at an alcoholics' rehabilitation clinic we recorded drinking/abstinence behavior and depression up to 1 year after discharge. Seventy-eight patients completed the inpatient therapy, and of these, 39 respondents were recorded up to the final follow-up point. Generally, the initial, markedly elevated depression scores had declined significantly by the end of the inpatient treatment. In the abstainers, the depression scores continued to fall after release and remained low throughout the entire observation period. In patients who resumed alcohol use, relapses were accompanied by immediate, sharp increases in the scores, but declined upon a return to abstinence.