A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found that there is a clear link between alcohol abuse and risk of major depression.
Researcher David Ferguson of the University of Otago and his colleagues studied a group of 1,055 children who were monitored and interviewed at various times over a period of 25 years.
“Individuals who fulfilled the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependency were 1.9 times more likely to also fulfill the criteria for major depression,” said the researchers, and the link between the two was significant even after factoring in other possible causes, such as drug use, affiliation with “deviant peers,” unemployment and a partner who committed crimes.
The link may exist, said the researchers, because these individuals are genetically predisposed to develop depression when triggered by the effects of alcohol.
Research also suggests that the depressant characteristics of alcohol may lead to periods of depressed mood in those who abuse alcohol, according to the authors.
depression.about.com
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