Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms and Remedial Measures

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Page: 304-309

Amandeep Singh¹, Amandeep Kaur Bajwa², and Rupan Dhillon³ (Department of Psychiatry, Sri Guru Ram Das Institiute of Medical Sciences and Research, Vallah, Amritsar, Punjab¹,  Sri Guru Ram Das College of Nursing,Vallah, Amritsar, Punjab², and Department of Psychology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab³)

Alcohol “use disorders have been prevalent across all societies. The pattern of alcohol use varies depending on age, religion, education, type of drink, and other socio-demographic characteristics. The consumption pattern also varies between different cultures and societies. Alcohol use is increasing in developing countries. People who are physically dependent on alcohol when suddenly stop drinking, they experience withdrawal syndrome. The symptoms generally resolve spontaneously within a week, but more severe forms may be associated with generalised seizures, hallucinations and delirium tremens, which can be” fatal. The objectives of the study are to assess the withdrawal symptoms in alcoholics and remedial measures of alcoholics and to find the relationship between withdrawal symptoms and remedial measures with selected demographic variables. A descriptive study approach was to collect data from 60 alcoholics from selected de-addiction centres, in Amritsar. A structured alcohol withdrawal symptom rating scale and structured checklist for assessment of remedial measures were administered to assess the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and their remedial measures. It is inferred that the majority of alcoholics had moderate withdrawal symptoms. The overall withdrawal symptoms mean score was 20.68_+ 7.06 which was 51.7%. Assessment of mean, SD and mean percentage of withdrawal symptoms shows the mean score as 20.68 and SD 7.06 and remedial measures of alcoholics mean score as 6.62 and SD 2.68. The study concluded that most alcoholics are from the age group of 41-50 years. They were employed and had secondary education. The majority of alcoholic clients were married, had a monthly family income of below 10,000 and belonged to rural areas. Maximum number of alcoholic clients was non-vegetarian and the duration of alcohol consumption was 1- 5 years.