ABSTRACT

This study was carried out on a sample of n = 14 female patients, age between 31 - 51 years, who came for treatment primary for alcohol consumption, but the subsequent analysis of the clinical picture of the circumstance of alcohol consumption leads us to interpret this habit as a negative coping to stress. The evaluation on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale had indicated that in a great majority the patients were in the range of a moderate life crisis, and from the stand point of clinical subtypes of the adjustment disorders, in the range of anxious and depressed mood. The pattern of coping was focused on the emotional distress, and the alcohol consumption had the significance of a quick relief, in order to master the affective disturbances.

KEYWORDS: negative coping, adjustment disorders, alcohol consumption