Objective

The concept of self-medication refers to the use of substances to help cope with periods of psychological distress. This study sought to examine the typical drinking patterns of adults who self-report using alcohol to self-medicate low mood using data from a large, nationally representative US household survey. Materials and methods: Data was from the Wave I (2001-2002) National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). The sample consisted of individuals who met the depression criteria, who indicated that they had drank alcohol to improve their mood when they felt down for at least two weeks, and consumed alcohol in the last 12 months (n = 5900). Alcohol use related to the last 12 months (frequency, quantity, and drinking context). Results: A multiple group Latent Class Analysis was conducted to identified clinically relevant homogeneous groups of drinkers who self-report use of alcohol to self-medicate compared to those who do not. Two latent classes emerged for each of the two self-medicating groups, which were named based on their probabilities, as ‘seldom drinkers’ and ‘hazardous drinkers’ in the self-medication group, and as ‘normal drinkers’ and ‘very seldom drinkers’ in the non-self-medication group. Conclusions: The findings of this paper indicate that the behaviour of self-medication may be a factor in why people may be more hazardous drinkers, and that these individuals are drinking to relieve their mood, more likely than someone who does not use alcohol for this purpose. The findings also provide clinical insight, as the behaviour of self-medication could be used as a target for intervention.

中文翻译：

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自我治疗情绪低落和饮酒：检查饮酒频率，饮酒量和饮酒环境的作用。

目的

自我用药的概念是指使用药物来帮助应对心理困扰。这项研究试图通过一项来自全国的，具有全国代表性的大型家庭调查的数据，研究成年人自我饮酒以自我治疗情绪低落的成年人的典型饮酒模式。材料和方法：数据来自第一波（2001-2002）国家酒精与相关疾病流行病学调查（NESARC）。样本由符合抑郁标准的个体组成，这些个体表示，当他们情绪低落至少两周时，他们已经喝酒以改善情绪，并且在最近12个月内饮酒（n = 5900）。与最近12个月有关的饮酒（频率，数量和饮酒情况）。结果：进行了多组潜在类别分析，以识别与饮酒者自我报告使用酒精进行自我报告的饮酒者之间的临床相关同质人群。两个自我治疗组分别出现了两个潜在类别，根据他们的概率被命名为自我治疗组中的“很少饮酒者”和“危险饮酒者”，以及“正常饮酒者”和“非常饮酒者”在非自我用药小组中。结论：本文的研究结果表明，自我服药的行为可能是导致人们更危险饮酒的一个因素，并且这些人正在喝酒以减轻情绪，这比不为此目的饮酒的人更有可能。这些发现还提供了临床见解，因为自我用药的行为可以用作干预的目标。