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Phenomenological Aspects of the Alcoholic “Blackout”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Donald W. Goodwin ,
J. Bruce Crane  and
Samuel B. Guze
Donald W. Goodwin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
J. Bruce Crane
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Samuel B. Guze
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
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Extract

“Blackout”, a confusing term sometimes denoting amnesia and at other times unconsciousness, has come in the alcoholism literature to designate memory loss associated with drinking alcohol. That alcoholics frequently experience amnesic episodes has been recognized since Bonhoeffer's time, and more recently Jellinek (1952) and others have popularized the notion that blackouts are an important predictor of alcoholism, a conclusion based on questionnaire data indicating that blackouts occur early in the course of alcoholism, well before the appearance of other alcoholic symptoms. Jellinek also believed that alcoholics often had blackouts after ingestion of modest, subintoxicating amounts of alcohol.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 115 , Issue 526 , September 1969 , pp. 1033 - 1038
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1969 

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