Diagnostic subgroups of antisocial alcoholics: outcome at 1 year

Abstract

Of 233 alcoholics initially evaluated and subdivided into groups with an additional diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASP) only (N = 38), ASP plus drug abuse (N = 30), ASP plus major depressive disorder (N = 18), and those with no additional diagnosis (N = 147), 205 were followed up 1 year later. The ASP plus drug group, although younger and having fewer years of alcoholism, did worse in the 1-year follow-up on many indicators of alcoholism severity compared with the other antisocial groups and the alcoholism only group. The ASP plus depressed group demonstrated marked improvement on measures of psychopathology and alcoholism severity over the course of 1 year such that they were comparable on these measures at 1-year follow-up to the other antisocial groups. These findings may indicate that the ASP/drug alcoholic has a poor long-term prognosis compared with the ASP only alcoholic, while the ASP/depressed patient has a disorder comparable in prognosis to the ASP only alcoholic.