REMİSYONDAKİ ALKOL BAĞIMLILARINDA KONTROL ODAĞI

Abstract

Objective: Locus of control is a personality construct referring to an individual’s perception of the locus of events. In this study, the correlation of locus of control with various sociodemographic clinical characteristics was investigated in alcohol dependent patients in remission.
Method: 102 patients who fulfilled DSM-IV criteria of alcohol dependence and were hospitalized and treated for alcohol dependence before but in remission for at least 6 months were included. Patients who had comorbid psychiatric disorders, and took any psychotropic medication in the last one month were excluded. Measures included sociodemographic data form, Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale(RIELCS), Hamilton Depresion Rating Scale-17(HAM-D-17), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI). All information was analyzed by SPSS (Windows 6.0) program.
Results: The study subjects were 17 female patients (16.6%) and 85 male patients (83.4%). The mean age of the study group was 44.5 (sd=6.1). RIELCS showed significant differences between two genders (F=11.7; p<0.05). It was found higher in women. While there was a significant positive correlation of the scores of RIELCS and HAM-D-17 (r=0.5; p<0.001), with the number of hospitalization (r=0.27, p<0.05), there was no correlation with remission after treatment (r=0.03; p<0.001).
Conclusion: In alcohol dependent patients, locus of control is related to sociodemographic-clinical characteristics. The external locus of control in female alcohol dependent patients may be a reflection of sociocultural characteristics. It seems that locus of control may play a role on remission, and external locus of control causes relapses but internal locus of control increases as period of remission becomes longer.