Anxiety Forum

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It appears that people who are dependent on alcohol and also have an anxiety disorder are at greater risk of a relapse when getting treatment for the alcohol dependence. For this reason, a new treatment strategy focusing on addressing both disorders may be warranted. But, this is something which needs to be tested before any conclusions can be made about how beneficial such new treatments would be to treating alcohol dependence.

This article also points out that its difficult to figure out which came first -the alcohol dependence or the anxiety disorder, as both could influence the other. People with anxiety might 'self-medicate' with alcohol, and alcohol dependence and withdrawal might itself cause anxiety.

Interestingly, the percentage of people with alcohol dependency who additionally have an anxiety disorder is fairly high, possibly up to 50% according to one researcher.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=29135