Abstract

BITTENCOURT, Simone Armentano; OLIVEIRA, Margareth da Silva  and  SOUZA, Cristiane Cauduro de. Estudo de relações entre fobia social e uso do álcool: Study of the relation between social phobia and drinking alchool. Rev. bras.ter. cogn. [online]. 2005, vol.1, n.2, pp. 135-146. ISSN 1808-5687.

The purposes of this research is to study the associations between Social Phobia on alcoholic patients, assess the symptoms of Social Phobia on alcoholic patients in periods of consumption and periods of abstinence and identify the kind of treatment for alcoholism that patients with Social Phobia prefer. It is a quantitative study. The sample is composed of one hundred patients between twenty and sixty-five years old, admitted to hospital for alcohol dependency, under abstinence for, at least, two weeks. The instruments utilized were as follows: structured interview, Inventory of Anxiety and Social Phobia (SPAI), Social Phobia Scale Leibowitz, and Complementary Questionnaire of Comorbidity. Significant occurrence of Social Phobia has been observed (35%). The presence of Social Phobia symptoms was described by patients prior to the history of Alcohol Dependency in the total sample which presented Social Phobia. It was also observed that the Social Phobia symptoms are diminished in the period of alcohol consumption, where 97,6% has this perception, and get worse during the abstinence period, being this second aspect perceived in 85,71% of the patients. Most of these patients never had a psychotherapeutic treatment (63%), and most patients in the sample Social Phobia (75.75%) refer preference to the individual treatment option. The frequent comorbidity may suggest specific strategies and alter prognosis in many cases. The understanding of the symptoms associated is important to clarify the diagnosis. The alcohol consumption conceals the symptoms of Social Phobia making it seem less serious and the symptoms appear clearly again, when alcohol consumption is interrupted.

Keywords : Social phobia; Dependency alcoholic; Comorbidity.