Psychosocial history, minimal brain dysfunction and differential drinking patterns of male alcoholics.

Compared essential and reactive alcoholics (N = 75) on their childhood history reports of minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) and current patterns of alcohol use. It was found that the essentials retrospectively reported over twice as many symptoms of hyperactivity and minimal brain dysfunction, which suggests that antecedent neuropsychological factors also may contribute to their chronic personal and social maladjustment in addition to the previously formulated psychodynamic and developmental factors. Present drinking practices in the essential alcoholics were more disturbed, as revealed by the greater adverse personal and interpersonal consequences. A general index of alcoholism severity was observed to be correlated significantly with both essential alcoholism and number of MBD symptoms in childhood.