Neuropsychological impairment and behavioral limitations exhibited within an alcohol treatment program

The present study investigated the generalizability of neuropsychological test data to behavioral problems/limitations exhibited by alcoholics within an inpatient treatment program. Ratings supplied by alcohol counselors of problematic behaviors were used to form two groups (N = 40) representing behaviorally impaired (B1) and behaviorally unimpaired (BU) alcoholics. The neuropsychological performance of BI subjects was found to be impaired, relative to BU subjects, on composite measures of motor skill, problem solving, psychomotor speed, and memory. BI subjects, relative to the BU group, were also found to have significantly longer histories of alcoholism, more frequent neurological examination abnormalities, and higher incidences of suboptimal nutrition. Taken as a whole, these data suggest that neuropsychological measures may have some potential for assisting in the generating of valid inferences regarding both underlying cerebral pathology and the behavioral consequences of such as expressed within the alcohol treatment milieu.