Alcohol misuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (delayed); an alternative interpretation of the data.

Alcohol abuse in individuals exposed to trauma: A critical review.

“…Significantly more of the combat-exposed men than the noncombat controls met DSM-III (3rd ed., APA, 1980) criteria for alcohol abuse (78% vs. 36%, respectively). Because preexisting differences between soldiers assigned to combat duty and those not assigned might contribute to the differences in posttrauma problem drinking (Roy, 1983), retrospective diagnoses were made for each participant for the period between leaving high school and entering the military. About 20% of the men in both groups met diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Chronic combat‐related PTSD and concurrent substance abuse: Implications for treatment of this frequent “dual diagnosis”

“…Roy (1983) presented data, for example, to support the notion that alcohol misuse among PTSD sufferers may be more the result of a bias in who did, or did not, ultimately get assigned to combat among military personnel (i.e., that those that were assigned to combat were in some way predisposed to use and/or abuse mind altering substances as a defense against stress). Roy (1983) was criticized on methodological grounds by Lacoursiere and Coyne (1984).…”

“…In these same studies, the reported incidence of drug abuse/dependence was also quite high in FTSD patients, ranging from 20% to 36% (Escobar et aL, 1983;Faustman and White, 1989;Sierles et aL, 1983Sierles et aL, , 1986. McFarland (1985) also found 10.3% with drug abuse/dependence, and 31% with mixed substance abuse.…”

Chronic combat-related PTSD and concurrent substance abuse: Implications for treatment of this frequent ?dual diagnosis?

“…However the notion that combat, and especially combat in Vietnam, may cause long-term substance abuse has been the basis €or some controversy in the literature. Roy (1983) presented data, for example, to support the notion that alcohol misuse among PTSD sufferers may be more the result of a bias in who did, or did not, ultimately get assigned to combat among military personnel (i.e., that those that were assigned to combat were in some way predisposed to use and/or abuse mind altering substances as a defense against stress). Roy (1983) was criticized on methodological grounds by Lacoursiere and Coyne (1984).…”

“…Roy (1983) presented data, for example, to support the notion that alcohol misuse among PTSD sufferers may be more the result of a bias in who did, or did not, ultimately get assigned to combat among military personnel (i.e., that those that were assigned to combat were in some way predisposed to use and/or abuse mind altering substances as a defense against stress). Roy (1983) was criticized on methodological grounds by Lacoursiere and Coyne (1984). Nevertheless, engaging in substance misuse while on combat duty may be a marker of vulnerability for subsequent long-term psychological consequences of combat exposure.…”