This study addresses the impact of terrorism on alcohol consumption and alcohol use problems and their relationship with other mental disorders. Its interest lies in the context of a significant gap in the scientific literature, given that, although there are many studies on the prevalence of mental disorders such as PTSD, depressive disorders or anxiety disorders in victims of terrorism, the study of alcohol consumption problems has been scarce and methodologically limited, without differentiating between a one-off increase in consumption and the presence of clinical problems.


The only previous meta-analysis on the subject (DiMaggio et al., 2009) has significant shortcomings in terms of the quality control of the studies included and does not distinguish between these two phenomena: increased consumption and clinical problems. Therefore, the first study consisted of an updated systematic review and meta-analysis on the subject, which included 29 studies with a total of 282,753 participants, in which the prevalence of both increased alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders was estimated. The results showed that, although 6% of victims of terrorist attacks increase their alcohol consumption after the attack, this does not translate into a higher frequency of clinical problems due to alcohol consumption, as their prevalence (5.5%) is similar to that found in the general population.


Based on these findings, there is a need to further investigate the impact of terrorism on alcohol consumption and related clinical problems, as well as to analyse its relationship with other psychological disorders. To answer these questions, the second study was conducted on a Spanish sample of victims of terrorist attacks with the aim of analysing their pattern of alcohol consumption, comparing it with normative data from the general population and establishing its relationship with symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression.