Forms of psychological protection in cases of the so-called social alcohol abuse and in chronic alcoholism are described. The role of the psychological protective mechanisms in the development of the disease was ascertained. The following phenomena of the perceptive protection were identified and depicted: ignoring of drunkenness, deformation of perceptive evaluation, emphasizing, partial perception. A special attention was paid to the role of the rationalization mechanisms, particularly motivational rationalization which underlies the formation of the explanatory systems. An attempt was made to explain the development of a number of clinical phenomena in chronic alcoholism in relation to the system of the personality psychological protection.