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Alcohol, Other Drugs and Tobacco use and Anxiolytic Effectiveness

A Comparison of Anxious Patients and Psychiatric Nurses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

S. Tilley
S. Tilley*
Affiliation:
Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries
*
Nursing Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, 12 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9JT, Scotland
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Extract

Recent studies raise questions regarding use or abuse of alcohol by phobics, and about compatibility of behaviour therapy and benzodiazepine use. In this study 40 patients, referred with mainly anxiety-related problems to a nurse behaviour therapist, and a comparison group of 40 psychiatric nurses completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing use of alcohol, sedative drugs and tobacco, and their perceived anxiolytic effectiveness. The paper confirms earlier findings that the patients, in general, drank less than the general public. They also drank less than the nurses, but used more sedative drugs and were heavier smokers. Alcohol was an unreliable anxiolytic. A few patients, including two agoraphobics, drank heavily and did not enter treatment made conditional on stopping drinking. Implications for case management are discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 151 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 389 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987 

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