SUMMARYThe author examined affeotive disorders and other related symptoms (atypical chronic depressive state, suicide and self‐destructive behavior) in 141 male alcoholics to evaluate the relationship between alcoholism and affective disorders. The results were: five cases (3.5%) with primary affective disorder (2 with circular type, 1 with depressed type and 2 with involutional melancholia), nine with atypical chronic depression (4 with depressive neurosis and 5 with depressive paranoid reaction), one with successful suicide and three with prominent self‐destructive behavior on excessive drinking.The incidence of primary affective disorder in alcoholism approximates to 2 to 4 percent in Japan, and is a little lower than that of U.S.A or of Europe. A characteristic of the clinic for alcoholism was the frequent presentation of atypical or chronic depression. This was usually diagnosed as depressive neurosis or depressive personality disorder, and some developed to a transient paranoid state with excessive drinking. The rate of suicide in alcoholism seems to be lower in Japan than in Western countries: approximately a few percent in a few years in this country and 7 to 8 percent in Western countries. Those cases with prominent self‐destructive behavior were young alcoholics. They had underlying personality disorders and complicated life hist