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Article: Treating depression in alcoholics curbs drinking: until recently, researchers had a hard time proving that treating depression in alcoholics was effective.(Psychiatry)
- Article from:
- Internal Medicine News
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. -- Most physicians who treat alcohol-dependent patients know that studies have shown that depressed patients are much less likely to quit, or reduce, their drinking.
It is less well known that treating depression in these patients can improve alcohol treatment results, Dr. Edward V. Nunes said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. "The evidence shows if you do careful diagnosis--preferably in the setting of abstinence, but not absolutely so--treatment works," said Dr. Nunes, research director at the Substance Treatment and Research Service, New York.
Until fairly recently, treating depression in ...