Expressed Emotion among Families of Individuals with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome: A Pilot Study

Background: Alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) is a progressive condition stemming from severe alcohol use, where the person becomes increasingly reliant on alcohol, loses control over its use and will have to increase the quantity of consumption to get the same effect, making it extremely difficult to stop. This affects various aspects of a person's life such as the physical health, financial, interpersonal, social, and ethical life. It also induces negative behaviors such as aggressiveness, risk-taking attitudes such as drunken driving, legal issues, and withdrawal from the responsibilities at work and household. Even if the person decides to stop, various stressors might make them fall back into the same habit. Criticality, hostility, and emotional overinvolvement of the family members toward the patients of ADS, commonly referred to as expressed emotion (EE), are some of the major causes for relapse Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 31 subjects, who were selected convenience sampling. The data were collected at a private tertiary care neuropsychiatry hospital, Bengaluru. Ethics approval and informed consent were taken. Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale and sociodemographic schedule were used. Results: The perceived criticism was found to be higher (24.6 +/- 1.94) than emotional overinvolvement (18 +/- 4.48) among ADS caregivers, and the total score of the EE revealed that there was higher score (42.06 +/- 5.2) than the average score of the scale. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for addressing EE in the families of patients with ADS and to plan for comprehensive psychosocial interventions.