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IMPACT: Brief Alcohol Intervention with Depressed Patients
Principal Investigator: Susan Ramsey, Ph.D. Objectives: The goal of this project is to examine the efficacy of a brief alcohol intervention among heavy-drinking depressed patients. Design: This study is a randomized, two-group design with repeated measures over time, comparing a brief, motivationally-focused alcohol intervention plus standard psychiatric care to standard psychiatric care alone for heavy-drinking depressed patients. For this study, we will recruit a sample of 240 psychiatry clinic outpatients meeting structured diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder who drink heavily but are not alcohol dependent. Outcome Measures: We hypothesize that adding a brief alcohol intervention to standard psychiatric care, relative to standard psychiatric care alone, will reduce overall drinking volume and heavy drinking days among heavy-drinking depressed patients. Furthermore, we expect patients who receive the brief alcohol intervention to have better depression outcomes than patients receiving standard psychiatric care alone. We also expect that reduced alcohol consumption will mediate the effect of the brief alcohol intervention on depression outcomes. |