Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 355-361, 2002
© 2002 Medical Council on Alcohol
ALCOHOL USE, CIGARETTE CONSUMPTION AND CHRONIC POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Department of Psychiatry, St Lucas Andreas Hospital, Amsterdam,
1 Aarts: Trauma Research, Consultancy & Training, Elim,
2 Department of Medical Psychology, University of Maastricht, School of Medicine, Maastricht,
3 Psychiatric Hospital Delta, Portugaal,
4 Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, St Lucas Andreas Hospital, Amsterdam,
5 Center for Sleep/Wake Disorders Kempenhaege, Heeze and
6 Department of Statistics and Measurement Theory, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Received 23 February 2001; in revised form 17 December 2001; accepted 24 January 2002
Aims: The relationship between alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in 147 male former members of the civilian resistance against the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. Methods: The subjects were interviewed at home. Measures included rating of current PTSD and a self-report measure of smoking and alcohol use. Results: The weekly alcohol consumption reported by veterans was substantially below that of the general population. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in self-reported alcohol consumption between veterans with and without current PTSD. Cigarette smoking, however, was more prevalent in those with current PTSD. Conclusions: The absence in these veterans of a correlation between PTSD and alcohol consumption is contrary to the results of most studies on this subject. It may be related to the exclusion from organized resistance activities of people prone to the over-consumption of alcohol. It is hypothesized that, in trauma survivors, current substance use is associated with peri-traumatic patterns of psychological tensionreduction modes.
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