Efficacy of Family therapy in context of expressed emotions for relapse prevention of Alcohol Dependence Disorder

Abstract

The study was conducted on the (60) alcohol dependent male patients aged between 18yrs to 30yrs to investigate the efficacy of family therapy in context of expressed emotions for relapse prevention of alcohol dependence disorder.. All the patients were literate, belonging from the middle class socio-economic status; they fulfilled the criteria of alcohol dependence and had no co-morbid psychiatric disorder. Among them (30) Alcohol dependent patients were from the families with high expressed emotions and (30) Alcohol dependent patients were from the families with low expressed emotions. For the selection of the sample Michigan Alcohol Screening Test and Attitude Questionnaire were used. Sample was taken from mental health centre.The psycho-socio-demographic profile and the history of alcohol use were taken. Level of expressed emotions was assessed using the Attitude Questionnaire. Patients were admitted for 15 days for detoxification, given psycho-education and motivated for regular follow-up after discharge. The family intervention therapy was given as out-patient treatment. Patients in both the groups were divided into two subgroups, in which one group was given individual therapy with family therapy and another group was given only individual therapy. The total treatment duration for the group with low expressed emotions was 6 months where as for high expressed emotions group it was 9 months. The study found that along with the individual therapy, family based interventions are very effective for long term abstinence from alcohol.