REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCES FOR CONTROL AND PSE UDO-INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL IN ALCOHOLICS

In clinical practice with alcoholics we frequently encounter a phenome non whereby the subject claims he is able to cope with a situation, wh ereas in reality he cannot This discrepancy between the claimed and th e actual capacity for << control >> led us to devise a study which wou ld permit a better understanding of the phenomenon. We gave patients t wo questionnaires which deal with the concept of control. Comparison o f the MHLC (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, Wallston, 1978; a questionnaire which investigates the subjective degree of control in relation to health) and the GEFT (Group Embedded Figures Test, Witkin , 1971; a questionnaire which focuses more on actual behaviour and fie ld-dependency) allowed us to test the hypothesis that alcoholics have a << pseudointernal >> locus of control, that although, in what they s ay, they evince a strongly internal subjective locus of control, in re ality they are particularly external and dependent. The data confirm t hat the tendency towards; an << internal >> selfportrayal on the MHLC which is not backed up by the GEFT is significantly higher in alcoholi cs than in nonalcoholic subjects. Thus, all in all, this supports the hypothesis of a << pseudointernality >> in alcoholics.