The relationship between abstinence and Recovery of function in male alcoholics

Recovery of information-processing skills following prolonged abstinence was studied in middle-aged (mean = 50 years) chronic alcoholics. A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 25 long-term abstinent (21.2 months) alcoholics, 25 short-term abstinent (1.6 months) alcoholics, and 25 non-alcoholic control subjects. While there was a tendency for LTA alcoholics to perform better than STA alcoholics on digit-symbol substitution tests, there was no evidence of recovery on short-term memory or paired-associate learning: both groups of alcoholics were equally impaired, compared to control subjects. This suggests that the typical alcoholic manifests subtle neuropsychological deficits despite 1–2 years of sobriety.