P3 in alcoholics with disordered regulation of aggression.

Alcoholics have been found to show deficits in the P3 component of event-related potentials obtained using information-processing paradigms. However, alcoholic patients form a heterogeneous population. In a study of P3 voltages in subgroups of alcoholics with disorders in mood and aggression control, we observed significant decrements in these voltages in patients with lifelong histories of aggressive behavior. Patients with histories of incarceration for crimes involving physical violence had the lowest P3 amplitudes. The same patients also had a rate of paternal alcoholism significantly higher than that observed in the rest of the population. They could thus be classified as type 2 alcoholics, as a tendency to antisocial behavior and a high genetic loading for alcoholism have been described in this alcoholic subtype. These data could indicate that decrements in P3 amplitude characterize a subgroup of alcoholics with a disordered regulation of aggression. Alternatively, P3 deficits could be associated with some psychopathological conditions in individuals who abuse alcohol rather than with alcoholism, per se.