Deficits can persist with long-term abstinence in social cognition and emotional processing, which are abilities in decoding emotional facial expressions (Kornreich et al., 2001). Contradictory findings have been reported for processes related to ToM, with persistent deficits reported with prolonged abstinence in some (Bosco et al., 2014; Gizewski et al., 2013) but not all studies (Matyassy et al., 2006). Relapse associated with negative affect (e.g., depression) or social pressure represents approximately 70% of loss of sobriety after detoxification (Zywiak et al., 2003), suggesting that consideration of emotional and interpersonal difficulties is essential in clinical treatment for alcoholics. Additional studies are needed to specify the role of emotional and social cognition impairment in these types of relapses and how duration of sobriety contributes to scope and limits of recovery of emotional and social abilities.
