(Ivanhoe Newswire) – It’s like the old question, which came first, the
chicken or the egg? But this time researchers are talking about alcohol abuse
and depression. Does the former cause the latter, or is it visa versa?
Many have believed depression leads to alcohol problems, because people who are
depressed turn to alcohol to make them feel better, at least for a time. New
Zealand investigators suggest the opposite is true: alcohol abuse actually leads
to depression.
They arrived at that conclusion after looking at health data on about 1,000
people born in 1977. Rates of alcohol abuse and depression ran between about 18
percent and about 14 percent each as the participants moved from their late
teens into their early 20s. Using three statistical models, the researchers
tried to determine which came first: alcohol abuse or depression. One model
assumed the two conditions were responsible for each other. Another assumed
alcohol problems caused depression. And the third assumed depression caused
alcohol problems.
“This analysis suggested that the best-fitting model was one in which there was
a unidirectional association from alcohol abuse or dependence to major
depression but no reverse effect from major depression to alcohol abuse or
dependence,” write the authors.
How would alcohol abuse lead to depression? The researchers aren’t sure, but
speculate alcohol might trigger genetic markers that increase the risk for
depression, or alcohol’s depressive characteristics may lead to periods of
depression in those who overindulge.
SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, published online March 2, 2009
