The recruitment and assessment of families in which a diagnosis of primary alcoholism can be made for the identified patient remains a major effort of the Unit and provides us with a population of diagnostically appropriate research subjects for study. A particular focus this year has been the selection and evaluation of normal control subjects and their families able to participate in pharmacological as well as psychosocial studies conducted on the Research Ward in the Outpatient Clinic. Studies of experiential factors in the occurrence of familial alcoholism from a multigenerational perspective, the identification of persons at risk, and studies of efficacious methods of intervention remain primary research objectives. In an ongoing homogeneous couples psychotherapy group, we are evaluating this modality as a cost-effective method for the treatment of both the alcoholism and marital and family conflicts of the married alcoholic patient. Another group consisting of adult children of alcoholics has been meeting for the past year. The adaptive mechanisms of these nonalcoholic offspring are being assessed and will be compared to those of their alcoholic siblings. The fact that other psychiatric disorders coexist with alcoholism is known. Another ongoing study concerns the relationships between the appearance of affective disorders and alcoholism in a single large family pedigree. Affective disorders are of particular interest since, like alcoholism, they show evidence of genetic heritability and the existence of biological components. Data collection will continue until we have a sample of 200 alcoholic patients and their families and 50 normal control families.
