Lo spettro impulsivo-compulsivo nell’addiction: una prospettiva in- tegrata sullo sviluppo delle dipendenze patologiche in adolescenza

The evaluation of alcohol use disorder is the important first stage of interven- tions and treatments. The S.A.I.D. is an auto-evaluation test built on the assumption that alcoho- lism is close connected to the other person’s life problems that may have contributed to rouse, exacerbate or maintain alcoholism. The test is composed of 39 items, presented as auto-descriptions, that provide patient’s diagnostic profile articulated in two specific areas (social area and psycho- logical area), each divided in 9 scales (work/study; relationships; social relation- ship; cure/physical health; depression; hostility; inattention, anxiety,alexitimya) investigated through specific behavioural indexes that are noticeable in alcoholists. 219 subjects were examined, 122 with alcohol dependence diagnosis in ac- cordance with DSM-IV-TR and 97 non alcoholics not in treatment at psychiatric services, that form the control sample. The statistical analysis by Student’s t test showed that instrument is able to discriminate between alcoholists and healthy control subjects and Cronbach’s Alpha analysis noticed a good internal validity in two main areas in which dependence indexes are assembled, but a substantial unhomogeneity about singles subscales. These results indicate that the instrument can be useful for the general evaluation of social and psychological impairment in alcoholism but also suggest the need for a revision of the instrument aiming to a better internal consistency of subscales. Key words: Alcohol, alcoholism, screening, evaluation scale.