Partner relations and the development of alcoholism in female psychiatric patients

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Abstract
Sixty four consecutive female alcoholic psychiatric patients were interviewed about the causes to which they attributed the start of the abuse and the interaction between lifetime drinking career and partnerships. Thirty-three (51%) attributed the start to problems with partners (P-group): 21 drank to keep their partners, 12 drank when they were abandoned. Among the others (non P-group) four subgroups were identified: the social stigmatized group (n = 4), the parent abandoned group (n = 6), the tennage acting out group (n = 13), and the psychotic group (n = 7). Those who attributed the causes to a certain partnership (n = 33) were significantly older when the abuse started, more often divorced/separated, had more often had more than one alcoholic partner, less often a schizoprenic psychosis and more often a pure borderline personality disorder.