ALCOHOLICS ALSO DEPENDENT ON COCAINE IN TREATMENT - DO THEY DIFFER FROM PURE ALCOHOLICS

Although individuals who exhibit both alcohol and cocaine dependency a re seen increasingly in traditional alcoholism rehabilitation settings , their comparability with ''pure'' alcoholics is unclear. Sociodemogr aphic, psychological, cognitive, and substance abuse status were, ther efore, monitored in a group of alcoholics (n = 64) versus a group of c ocaine dependent alcoholics (n = 82) on admission and just prior to di scharge from 28-day multimodal treatment settings. At admission, cocai ne-dependent alcoholics were younger, more likely to be unmarried, hav e more extensive substance use histories as well as more frequent prio r treatments than ''pure'' alcoholics. Additionally, members of both g roups exhibited abnormalities on psychological indices. Both psycholog ical and cognitive indices revealed significant between-group differen ces which subsequent analyses found to be a confound of the marked age discrepancy between groups. From admission to discharge, scores on bo th psychological and cognitive indices declined significantly in both groups. Urine assay data revealed a greater tendency for cocaine-depen dent alcoholics to relapse during treatment. While the psychological a nd cognitive data largely argue for the comparability of groups of pat ients classified as ''pure'' alcoholics with those who are dependent o n both alcohol and cocaine, the latter group may have more difficulty in achieving abstinence during treatment. The interpretability of beha vioral indices gathered only at treatment admission is questioned.