Abstract
The study is concerned with alcoholism and drug depedence as causal and as associated factors in psychiatric hospital admissions in New South Wales. During the 1966–1970 period, the only significant increase among first admissions occurred in the 10 to 19 age group: the proportion of admissions with the primary diagnosis of drug dependence increased from 3% to 5%. Among both first and repeated admissions, the proportion with a primary diagnosis of alcoholism (including alcoholic psychosis) was approximately seven times greater than that with drug dependence (15% and 2%, and 20% and 2.9% respectively). The proportion of admissions with a secondary diagnosis of alcoholism was also significantly greater than the proportion with a secondary diagnosis of drug dependence (7.6% and 5.3%); a secondary diagnosis of alcoholism was significantly more common than that of drug dependence in 9 out of 12 psychiatric diagnoses. In both the primary and secondary diagnosis of drug dependence, the most commonly abused drugs were barbiturates (14.5%), followed by amphetamine (5.7%) and opium (2.6%). Significantly more patients with a primary diagnosis of alcoholism than with that of drug dependence had longer periods of hospitalization. The relative ‘severity’ of the problems of alcoholism and drug dependence is discussed in the light of the relevant literature.