Predicting the course of neuropsychological status in recently abstinent alcoholics: A pilot study

Abstract

Patterns of neuropsychological recovery were assessed in small samples of recently detoxified male alcoholics. Subjects were administered a set of tests which examined a broad range of functions under a design which was employed to separate practice effects from spontaneous recovery. An examination of group trends failed to reveal spontaneous recovery or practice effects on any of the cognitive tests or affective measures. However, an examination of the course of recovery for individual patients showed that performance early in the postacute detoxification stage was highly correlated with performance approximately 3 weeks later. The average correlation across the range of cognitive tests accounted for approximately 50% of the variance between occasions.