Studies suggest that slow recovery of cognitive functioning occurs in alcoholics who remain abstinent for at least 4 weeks, and certain indicators of impairment (i.e., CT and MRI images and brain glucose metabolism) have been shown to improve with prolonged abstinence (Pfefferbaum et al. 1995; Volkow et al. 1994). Although numerous pharmacological treatments have been given to alcoholics to improve neuropsychological functioning, none has proved entirely successful (Martin and Nimmerrichter 1993). Researchers have not established whether recovery is complete in most alcoholics (or what constitutes complete recovery), and they have not yet determined the typical length of the recovery period. With abstinence, some alcoholics show a slow reversal of neuropsychological impairment. Other alcoholics, however, display apparently irreversible deficits on specific tasks of cognitive function.
