Study Of Combined Depression-Alcoholism Treatment - Article Example

The article argues that the study is highly significant as the prevalence of alcoholism and depression is frequently interrelated, and no substantial treatments have yet been designed to specifically address this diagnosis. The study was conducted by Helen Pettinati Ph.D. and her associates at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to receiving medical treatments, the patients underwent cognitive-behavioral therapy. Over a fourteen-week period, one-hundred seventy people were tested, using four treatment groups.

All four treatment groups demonstrated improvements. While all four groups demonstrated improvements, the group that received the combined treatment demonstrated the highest rate of abstinence and also had the longest intervals in between drinking. The difference in intervals was extreme, with the average interval for patients with the combined drug 61 days; while the other groups combined was 15 days. While the article states that the combined treatment was most effective in reducing adverse side effects (namely hospitalization for rehabilitation), it neglects to mention if there were new side effects from the combination of the drugs.

It also doesn’t neglect if research is looking into a hybrid drug that would function to treat alcoholism and depression simultaneously.