Vivências de ansiedade em usuários de álcool: uma reflexão sob o ponto de vista fenomenológico-existencial-gestáltico.

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the inner experiences of anxiety here conceived as a contact disorder - in a group of alcoholics. Gestalt approach has been used as theoretical support and Amedeo Giorgi phenomenological conceptions have been chosen as method. The dissertation includes 3 chapters. Chapter 1 is based on an exposition in which some theorists, according to their own conceptions and especially under Gestalt viewpoint, show how they conceive anxiety. Chapter 2 shows a systematic review of the literature and presents those investigations which brought up the discussion on the relation between anxiety and alcoholism. The above-mentioned review has captured 53 articles on Psycinfo, Medline, Cochrane, Lilacs, PePSIC and Scielo electronic bibliographic database. The investigation revealed several studies showing the presence of comorbidities between anxiety disorder and the addiction to alcohol. The above-mentioned studies approached alcoholism and anxiety under several points of view, such as alcohol as self-medication to reduce negative feelings, unfavorable social settings and the increase of alcoholism and anxiety disorders, personality features and alcoholism, intervention proposals and many others. Chapter 3 is an article named Inner experiences of anxiety in alcohol users: a reflection under the point of view of Gestalt approach . In this way, 6 participants, inpatients or outpatients under treatment in hospitals specialized in mental disorders as a result of alcoholism, in Goiania, have been interviewed and evaluated. The following instruments for anxiety analysis have been used in the investigation: Semi-structured Interview and Zulliger Test. Results have showed 2 inner experiences in common to the participants: isolation and dependence in connection with the social setting, both of which having so proven the presence of anxiety - or affliction experiences - under the Gestalt point of view. Lastly the study shows that anxiety has proven to be an important phenomenon amongst alcohol users, which has so confirmed previous studies concerning the connection between anxiety and alcoholism. In addition, some specifics between both the phenomena have been emphasized.