[Jellinek's developmental stages and their reality under our sociocultural conditions]

In a group of 250 hospitalized male patients with the diagnosis 303 the author tested the aptness of Jellinek's developmental stages of alcoholism which are widely used in Czechoslovak alcohology. It was demonstrated that the developmental stages are not integrated developmental stages, that they lack the necessary compactness in the chronological sequence and in the frequency of individual phenomena. Loss of control (8) in the reported form is closer to the onset of development and the frequency of palimpsests (7) develops later, usually is overlaps with prolonged drunkedness (31). At the onset of development dominates "non-adaptive" drinking evaluated frequently as loss of control and in the more advanced stage the constant incidence of palimpsests causes frequent intoxication and declining tolerance. Among individual phenomena the following are important: in stage I regular contact with the drug (04) and increased tolerance (05), in stage II secret drinking (2) and frequency of palimpsests (7), in stage III signs derived mostly from rationalization and alcohol-centered behaviour and finally in stage IV impaired thinking (33), reduced tolerance (37) and possible ethic degradation (32). As to different developmental stages the chronic stage sounds most convincing.