[Neuropsychological defects in alcoholics with the withdrawal syndrome].

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyse the correlation between the neuropsychological functioning and the intensity of the recent withdrawal syndrome. The authors compares two groups of alcoholics hospitalized for the acute withdrawal syndrome: of the predelirious character (N = 23) and alcoholic delirium (N = 21). Both groups of patients were treated identically in order to suppress the acute withdrawal syndrome. On the tenth day of the treatment the scores on the Gross Evaluation Scale and the Scale of Medical Risks were identical (p less than 0.01) in both groups of patients. On the fifteenth day of hospitalization, after five days without any psychopharmacological therapy, the patients underwent psychological testing: the Wechsler-Bellevue test, separately for the complete, verbal, and nonverbal scales and the Bender-Gestalt test. Statistically significant differences between the two groups of patients were found in the complete scale (p less than 0.05) and the verbal scale (p less than 0.05) of the Wechsler-Bellevue test, as well as in the subtests of the verbal scale: achievement (p less than 0.05), cognition (p less than 0.05), and concepts (p less than 0.01). These differences may be understood as a result of the intensity of the recent withdrawal syndrome, i.e., the patient just cured of delirium showed more serious disturbances in the complete scale and some subtests of the verbal scale of the Wechsler-Bellevue test.