Cognitive psychosocial performance and recovery in female alcoholics

Female alcoholics experience greater affective symptomatology and are more frequently labeled with comorbid psychiatric diagnoses than male alcoholics. Subgroups of male and female alcoholics with antisocial symptomatology are strikingly similar across behavioral, psychosocial, and alcohol and drug use variables. Relative to controls, female alcoholics manifest deficits in standard neuropsychological testing as well as efficiency of information processing, interpersonal problem solving, neurophysiological measures, and neurophysiological assessment. The deficits are quite similar to those of male alcoholics. However, females may manifest a differential susceptibility to alcohol given the females' comparatively shorter drinking careers. There are no overall sex differences in relapse rates following treatment, although various personal and environmental factors play gender-specific roles in outcome. Patterns of recovery function with abstinence are similar for male and female alcoholics.