These cross-sectional and longitudinal studies examine CNS dysfunction and recovery in alcoholic men and women as manifested in a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological (NP) tests and 3 classes of evoked brain potentials (EP) at 3-weeks post-detoxification at 1-year posttreatment. Three major problem areas are addressed. 1) Patterns of NP and EP deficit at 3 weeks as functions of Gender and 2 background variables. a) Primary vs Secondary and b) Familial vs nonFamilial alcoholism. 2) Recovery of NP/EP functioning at 1 year in relation to Gender, the background variables and abstinence during the followup year. 3) Prediction of resumption of drinking during followup in relation to initial NP/EP deficits, Gender and the background variables. Data and relationships for reported childhood symptoms of hyperkinesis/minimal brain damage, alcohol consumption history, medical history and demographic variables will also be analyzed. Matched controls will participate both at initial testing and followup. The NP battery is composed of test clusters that assess 3 types of ability, Abstraction/Problem Solving, Learning/Memory and Perceptual-Motor Skills, each of which show impairment in alcoholic men and women. The EP battery employs 3 paradigms, auditory brainstem potentials, patterns reversal visual evoked potentials and event-related potentials (visual and auditory) elicited in information-processing contexts. Thus, we can assess the functional integrity of the primary auditory and visual input systems and of neural mechanisms that mediate aspects of selective attention and stimulus evaluation. All 3 paradigms have shown sensitivity to CNS dysfunctions in male alcoholics. These studies will extend previous research as follows: 1) Replicate our recent findings that the Primary-Secondary and Familial-nonFamilial background factors predict NP deficits in alcoholic men (Primary and Familial males show greatest deficit), extend these analyses to women and to the EP dependent variables, 2) define relationships between NP deficits and EP aberrations, in male and female alcoholics, 3) investigate in women the widespread EP aberrations found in male alcoholics, 4) determine reversibility of CNS dysfunctions with long term followup, 5) explicate the extent to which status on the background factors, gender and NP/EP deficits can predict resumption of drinking. This research will provide unique information on the roles of familial factors, etiology, and CNS dysfunctions in the course and recovery patterns in alcoholic men and women. The results should bear on the problems of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, rehabilitative workers and other disciplines in the field of alcoholism.
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