ALCOHOLISM IN MANIC-DEPRESSIVE (BIPOLAR) PATIENTS

Bipolar patients with alcoholism were compared to nonalcoholic bipolar patients on clinical and family history variables. All patients were systematically examined using a structured interview. There was no inc rease in the family history of alcoholism in the alcoholic/bipolar. Th is argues against separate transmission of alcoholism and bipolar illn ess in bipolar patients who meet diagnostic criteria for both bipolar illness and alcoholism. The possibility remains that alcoholism is sec ondary to the bipolar illness in some cases. Likewise, there is a poss ibility that preexisting alcoholism may, by a sequence of events, prod uce an induced ''organic'' bipolar picture.