Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) | Literature Review

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
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LITERATURE REVIEW
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Introduction
AOD (alcohol and other drug) use purportedly has an adverse effect on health. Along
with a range of physical ailments, AOD use also has a prominent impact on mental health.
Although AOD use has been identified as a major cause of psychological ailments such as
anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc. the prevalence of AOD use among people, especially
among the youth is rampant. Researchers working in the field of psychology often argue that
these two have a reciprocal relationship. To elucidate, psychological disorders have a direct
impact on AOD use and vice versa. Apart from exacerbating or initiating psychiatric disorders,
AOD use and withdrawal can also cause psychiatric symptoms and subsequently mimic
psychological syndrome in its manifestation (Mahmoud et al, 2017). Hence, in order to design an
effective intervention or course of treatment, it is essential to discern the initiating point of
psychological syndromes. To this end, the present research seeks to identify the comorbidity
between AOD use disorders and mental illnesses, and establish the significance of the treatment
using differentiated psychiatric syndromes. However, given the variety of AOD use disorders
and the wide range of mental illnesses, the study restricts its scope within alcohol abuse and
depression. Further, it seeks to find comorbidity between alcohol use disorders and depression
and establish its importance in the treatment of adolescents as well as young adults.
Methodology
The research in question is essentially an exploratory analysis, grounded in positivist
research philosophy. Due to the constraints of time and resources, it adheres to a secondary
approach, and undertakes a survey of established literature existing in field of psychological
research. The articles reviewed in this research paper are extracted from scholarly peer-reviewed

LITERATURE REVIEW
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sources and are published within the last ten years. All the literature used for the survey
mandatorily based on primary quantitative data and use established scientific methods to obtain
their results.
Literature Survey
Many people who show signs of AOD use disorders are also diagnosed with mental
disorders and vice versa. This general finding, by and large, indicates a possibility of
comorbidity between AOD use and mental disorders. According to Goldstein, Faulkner &
Wekerle (2013), several receivers of psychological treatments also experience substance use
disorders and vice versa. However, there has not been adequate research on the comorbidity of
alcohol use disorders and depression among young adults and adolescents. Recent reports from
the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that consumption of alcohol, illicit
marijuana, tobacco and other drugs are a major cause of preventable illnesses and diseases
among the adolescents and the youth in Australia. Although the legal age for buying and
consuming alcohol in Australia has been set at 18 years, 9.1% of males and 6.8% females within
the age group of 12 to 17 are reported to be indulging in alcohol use. (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2020). In majority of the people, moderate to heavy use of alcohol is
generally associated with euphoria, decreased impulse control, mood swings etc. On the other
hand, acute withdrawal from alcohol can also cause severe mood instability, insomnia, hostility,
fatigue and reduced sexual interest for a prolonged time. However, such symptoms are often
difficult to distinguish from major depression or anxiety disorders (Agyapong et al., 2013).
In patients with the history of alcohol use disorders, depression is commonly categorized
either as substance induced or as independent, i.e. without a correlation with alcohol use.