EXPERIENCE OF USING THE SCALE OF GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF FUNCTIONING FOR DIAGNOSIS AND PLANNING OF PSYHOTHERAPY IN NARCOLOGICAL PRACTICE

Abstract

Significant consequences of alcohol abuse give grounds to classify alcohol dependence as a medical and social pathology that poses a danger to society. The number of patients registered in medical dispensaries in Ukraine reaches 1 million. Recurrences of the disease during the year after treatment are observed in 60-75% of patients with alcohol dependence. The problem is exacerbated by the medical and social consequences of alcohol abuse in the form of increased mental and physical illness, trauma, suicide attempts and aggressive behavior, criminal acts. This renders the search for new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of alcohol dependence relevant. The aim of the study was to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of using the global assessment of functioning scale (GAFS) to diagnose the dynamics of social functioning of patients with alcohol dependence. The study of the dynamics in the level of general functioning with the use of GAFS in the main and control groups yielded the following results. There was a significant increase in psychological, social and professional functioning in 74.0% of patients in whom a system of treatment and prophylactic measures was applied as compared to 46.7% of patients in the comparison group (χ2 = 6.062, p <0.05). A follow-up study showed that the number of persistent remissions was by 2 times higher in the main group than in the comparison group, 54.0% and 23.3%, respectively (p <0.001).

Keywords

• alcohol dependence, global assessment of functioning scale, psychotherapy, the system of treatment and prophylactic measures.