Relationship between severity of dependence with loneliness and perceived social support in individuals with alcohol and substance use disorder

Objective: Alcohol-and-substance use disorder (ASUD) in our age has become an important problem. Research shows that loneliness is a relevant important factor in the use of substances; using substances is an attempt to cope with loneliness; in both initial and continuation phase of dependence treatment for an individual with alcohol dependence problems, the support of family and social environment is significant and improves treatment compliance. In ASUD cases, the relationship between severity of dependence with loneliness and perception of social support is emphasized.

Method: In Erenkoy Psychiatric Hospital, Treatment and Training Center for Alcohol and Substance Dependence (AMATEM), patients admitted for inpatient treatment and diagnosed with ASUD according to DSM-5 criteria between 1 and 31 January 2015 and healthy volunteers have participated in the study. Participants were administered the ‘Sociodemographic Data Form” prepared by the researchers and ‘Addiction Profile Index (BAPI)’, ‘UCLA Loneliness Scale’ and ‘Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)’

Results: As preliminary data of the study, 27 ASUD patients and 14 healthy volunteers participated. All of the participants were male. The mean age of the participants was 28.70±11.39. The average BAPI score was 12.46±2.46. BAPI is determined and corresponds to the range of medium dependence severity. Of the patients, 14 (52%) were diagnosed with mild severity, 5 (18.5%) with moderate and 8 (29.5%) with high severity of dependence. Regarding UCLA loneliness scale cut-off score (56.64), 17% of participants had high general evel of loneliness score and 57% of these individuals are ASUD.4 of the healthy individuals (28%) live alone, among ASUD ones only 2 (7%) live alone. Comparing MSPSS scores between healthy controls and ASUD patients, among subscale scores, a significant difference was demonstrated between friends (p0.05).According to the BAPI scores, especially in patients with moderate and high severity of dependence, a positive correlation is found between MSPSS family subscale with the UCLA loneliness scale (r=0.64, p<0.05).

Conclusion: ASUD patients feel lonelier than people in the healthy group. An interesting finding of the study is that while the high and moderate severity dependent patients have a greater tendency to loneliness, family support perception is also at high levels. The results show the importance of family support in ASUD as well as the importance of increasing community awareness and social support in dependence as a disease.