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A Study of Intellectual Impairment and Recovery Rates in Heavy Drinkers in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Jane Clarke  and
Helen Haughton
Jane Clarke
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin 8
Helen Haughton
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin 8
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Extract

Work in England (Kaldegg, 1956) and America (Wechsler, 1958; and Jones and Parsons, 1972) has suggested that heavy drinking, while in the later stages leading to all-round intellectual deterioration, in the early stages frequently causes deficits in visual/spatial and visual/motor co-ordination and visual memory. Kleinknecht and Goldstein (1972) suggest two general areas of deficit, inability in abstract reasoning and problem solving, and inability in tasks involving speed and perceptual/motor co-ordination. These functions are known to deteriorate with age and so deficits due to alcohol look like premature senescence of intellectual and psychological processes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 126 , Issue 2 , February 1975 , pp. 178 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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