A Study of Stressful Life Events Contributing To Relapse in Alcohol Dependence Syndrome Patients at A Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract Background: Alcohol relapse is the process of going back to prior heavy drinking after a time of sobriety or reduced use. Relapses are common despite the availability of numerous therapeutic alternatives. Relapse is more likely to occur in those who experience psychological stress after treatment than in those who do not. Hence this study aims to examine demographic variables, clinical parameters of alcohol use, stressful life events and its association with alcohol relapse. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done at a tertiary care centre in Kalaburagi on 60 subjects presenting in relapse after minimum of 1 month abstinence. Patients were assessed by sociodemographic and clinical profile along with Severity Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ) to measure alcohol dependence severity level and Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale (PSLES) to identify life events one year prior to the relapse. Statistical analysis was done using IBM SPSS 20.0 software. Results: About 45% (n=27) patients were severely dependent. The mean stress scores for life events among patients in past one year was 161.88 (SD-107.54). The mean number of life events among patients in past one year was 3.46 (SD-2.1). The mean number of undesirable life events were 2.45 (SD-1.70) which was higher than desirable events 0.18 (SD-0.39) with p<0.05 which is statistically significant. Common stressful life events were financial conflicts (61.7%), followed by marital/family conflict (43.3%) and Job/work/loan related conflicts (41.6%). Conclusion: The study supports the link between stressful life events and relapse, suggesting that interventions in identifying such events can help patients in maintaining abstinence and potentially prevent further relapses.