Environmental deprivation in alcoholic, medical and psychiatric patients.

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Abstract
Four groups of 20 male veterans each, including alcoholic inpatients, psychiatric outpatients, medical inpatients and medical outpatients, were evaluated with regard to environmental and social support. The Environmental Deprivation Score of the alcoholic groups showed significantly greater deprivation than the scores of the other 3 groups. The alcoholics tended to be severely deprived in the areas of employment, avocational activities and interpersonal support, with even fewer avocational activities than the elderly and physically disabled medical inpatients. These results suggest the futility of symptom-oriented treatment, especially for alcoholics, when effort is not also devoted to a program for engendering a more supportive environment.

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