Jonas Sąlyga, Vitalija Paškevičienė, Geriuldas Žiliukas
Abstract
Alcohol addiction is a severe chronic disease. It disrupts the social environment and psycho-emotional health of both the patients and the people around them. The number of patients increases every year. In 2013 the number of patients receiving treatment for mental and behavioural disorders caused by alcohol consumption in Lithuania was 47 900 and in 2014 – 49 8000. This thesis discusses the psycho-emotional health of alcohol addicts attending or not attending (receiving stationary treatment) Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups. Research purpose – to analyse the psycho-emotional health of persons addicted to alcohol. Research methods. Quantitative study. Research instruments: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) and A. Antonovsky‘ s shortened Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC – 13), used to determine the level of internal harmony. The research sample consisted of 322 respondents (170 – attending AA groups and 152 – receiving stationary treatment). The descriptive analysis of the data was done using SPSS 17.0.1 for Windows. The research was conducted in accordance with ethical principles. Research results. The respondents attending AA groups showed fewer cases of anxiety and depression than those not attending AA groups. The respondents with stronger internal harmony showed lower levels of anxiety and depression than those with weaker internal harmony. The research showed, that aside from attending AA groups, other factors increasing levels of anxiety and depression include younger age, shorter alcohol consumption period, problems related to alcohol addiction, lower educational attainment and joblessness. The factors increasing the levels of anxiety among those that do not attend AA groups, include more frequent alcohol consumption and problems related to alcohol addiction, while loneliness increase the level of both – anxiety and depression. According to the research results, the persons with higher educational attainment and lower alcohol consumption levels showed stronger internal harmony, namely, the sense of meaningfulness and control. In both research groups, depending on their attendance to AA groups, the internal harmony of those that attend AA groups was related to age, while those that do not attend AA groups – to their marital status. Conclusion. The research showed that persons addicted to alcohol and attending AA groups have better psycho-emotional health than those that do not attend AA groups.
Keyword(s): alcohol addiction; psycho-emotional health.
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2016.098
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