Cognitive impairments in early sobriety: nursing interventions

In the United States, more than 100,000 people are treated in inpatient treatment centers for alcoholism and other forms of mind-altering drug addictions. One of the most important elements of this treatment is education about the disease process, recovery, and the effects of the drugs on the body, mind, and spirit. Unfortunately, many alcoholics experience cognitive impairment that may impede their learning in the early weeks of recovery. After briefly describing how cognitive impairment may manifest itself in many alcoholic patients in early recovery, and listing some of the possible causes of this impairment, the authors provide several nursing interventions designed to enhance the learning process in early alcoholic recovery.