There are many mental health conditions that can co-occur with alcohol abuse. Some of the most common conditions include depression, bipolar disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
By far, the most common mental health conditions that co-occur with AUD are depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma- and stress-related disorders, other substance use disorders, and sleep disorders.
One of the most common comorbidities is alcohol use disorder and major depressive disorder. In fact, people with alcohol use dependence are almost four times more likely to also have a major depressive disorder.
Alcohol-use disorders (AUD's) commonly occur in people with other severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and can exacerbate their psychiatric, medical, and family problems.
Depression and anxiety disorder
Comorbid anxiety disorder is the disorder most frequently found in patients with depres- sion.
Certain mental health disorders are more common among people with substance use disorders. These include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychotic disorders, borderline personality disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The following neuropsychiatric disorders have been briefly described: alcohol withdrawal syndrome, delirium tremens, alcohol hallucinosis, Wernicke-Korsakow syndrome, seizures, tremor, Marchiafava-Bignami disease, central pontine myelinolysis, alcoholic amblyopia, alcoholic cerebellar degeneration cerebral atrophy, ...
The chemical changes in your brain can soon lead to more negative feelings, such as anger, depression or anxiety, regardless of your mood. Alcohol also slows down how your brain processes information, making it harder to work out what you're really feeling and the possible consequences of your actions.
The chronic disorders associated with alcoholism are psychological, social, and medical. Among the psychological disorders are depression, emotional instability, anxiety, impaired cognitive function, and, of course, compulsive self-deleterious use of alcohol.
Mental health conditions that tend to show comorbidity include eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. The term comorbidity was coined in the 1970s by A.R. Feinstein, a renowned American doctor and epidemiologist.
Psychiatric comorbidity means that there is the coexistence of multiple psychiatric disorders. For example, a person with schizophrenia may also suffer from any of these disorders: panic, PTSD, OCD, generalized anxiety, social anxiety.
Studies found that people with a mental disorder, such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may use drugs or alcohol as a form of self-medication.
Substance use can lead to changes in some of the same brain areas that are disrupted in other mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, anxiety, mood, or impulse-control disorders.
A wide range of psychiatric conditions—including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—are comorbid with AUD and are associated with an increased risk of AUD. People with a history of childhood trauma are also vulnerable to AUD.
Chronic alcohol consumption can produce numerous neurological manifestations. The most common are polyneuropathy, cerebellar degeneration and dementia, and the most serious are WE, Korsakoff syndrome and Marchiafava–Bignami disease.
Psychosis associated with alcohol can occur with acute intoxication, alcohol withdrawal, and chronic alcoholism. Alcohol-related psychosis is also known as alcohol hallucinosis.
If you have alcohol-induced psychosis, you may experience a range of symptoms. These can vary in severity from hallucinations and paranoia to completely losing touch with reality. To an outsider, people in this state of mind may appear frightened or confused. Some people become aggressive and violent.
The end stage may be thought of as the most severe articulation of all the possible problems associated with alcohol use disorder. It is a circumstance of reversals; rather than living to drink, a person in the end stage likely drinks to live.
Individuals with MDD often have comorbid disorders such as substance use disorders, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The presence of these comorbid disorders in those diagnosed with MDD increases their risk of suicide.
The most common comorbidities of GAD are major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), and substance use disorder (SUD), due to the similar symptoms of these disorders.
Epidemiological data also suggest that 59.0% of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) meet the criteria for MDD5. Therefore, comorbid MDD and GAD is the most common form of comorbidity involving depression and anxiety2,6,7.
The greater the amounts of alcohol consumed and the more regular the intake, the more likely a person will be to develop temporary anxiety and depressive symptoms. As consumption increases even more, these symptoms also are likely to intensify.