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Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 567-574, 1999
© 1999 Medical Council on Alcoholism

RAPID RECOVERY FROM COGNITIVE DEFICITS IN ABSTINENT ALCOHOLICS: A CONTROLLED TEST–RETEST STUDY

Karl Mann*, Arthur Günther, Friedhelm Stetter and Klaus Ackermann

University of Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry, Addiction Research Centre, Osianderstrasse 24, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

Received 15 June 1998; in revised form 13 November 1998; accepted 16 November 1998

The pattern of cognitive deficits and their time-dependent recovery were investigated in a cohort of 49 male alcohol-dependent patients using a repeated measurement design with 49 healthy male controls matched for age, education, and marital status. We combined parts of the Halstead Reitan Battery and the Wechsler Memory Scale with tests that are widely used in German-speaking countries. Patients were tested in the first week (T1) and 5 weeks later (T2) at the end of the in-patient treatment programme. Matched controls were tested also at T1 and T2, which enabled us to take learning effects into account. At T1, the patients showed distinct cognitive deficits on 5 of 12 neuropsychological parameters (perceptual-motor speed, verbal short-term memory, verbal knowledge, non-verbal reasoning, spatial imagination). At T2, significant improvements had occurred in four of the five dysfunctional domains with a significant difference remaining in verbal short-term memory. Duration of dependency and length of abstinence prior to testing had no essential effects on neuropsychological functions. Our results provide evidence for the well-established fact that chronic alcoholism has detrimental effects on cognitive performance, but that performance improves with neuropsychological recovery which occurs rapidly within weeks when abstinence is maintained. Cognitive deficits seem to be similar across different studies and cultures.


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