"The burden of cyclothymia on alcohol dependence" 

in Journal of Affective Disorders

Samuel Pombo^a, M Luísa Figueira^a, Nuno Félix da Costa^a, Fátima Ismail^a, Guang Yang^b, Kareen Akiskal^c, Hagop Akiskal^b,c

Background The relationship between cyclothymic temperament and alcoholism remains insufficiently explored.

Methods A sample of 125 alcohol-dependent patients diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria (APA, 2000) was recruited from a clinical setting. Cyclothymic temperament was diagnosed according to the Portuguese version of the Akiskal & Akiskal (2005) temperament scale.

Results Alcohol dependent patients who score positive (above mean) for CT present to some extent a more severe profile of alcohol-related problems.

Limitations Correlational study

Conclusions CT traits in alcohol dependents seems to influence whether subjects engage earlier in pathological alcohol use and present particular alcohol-related problems, in particular Cloninger type II alcoholism phenotype.

full paper@   http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.09.002