This review aimed to describe studies that present empirical evidence for the presence of deficits in social skills in alcoholics and studies that evaluate the effectiveness of Social Skills Training (SST) for the treatment of alcoholism. We carried out a search in the databases PsycINFO, Scielo, Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus and Pepsic since 1990 until February 2011. The keywords used were "social skills" and "coping skills" crossed with the "alcoholism" one. At the end of the selection, 25 articles met the inclusion criteria were established and analyzed. The results pointed to the widespread SST in the treatment of alcoholism and evidence of its effectiveness. However, the associations between social skills deficits and alcoholism were not conclusive. The study highlights the need for more research on this association that may support the broad application of SST as an effective intervention in the treatment of alcohol consumption.
Social skills; alcoholism; social skills training
