Dangerous Alcoholics

Abstract

Alcoholics registered as dangerous to others were compared, by means of a health questionnaire and individual testing, with a suicidally inclined group and non-dangerous alcoholic controls. Dangerous subjects reported conspicuously few nervous complaints, whereas the suicidal group was characterized by a broad spectrum of symptoms including paranoid, depressive and aggressive feelings as well as tiredness and irritability. Intellectually they were found to be rather verbal. The controls formed an intermediate group as to the variables applied. The results tend to confirm a hypothesis of a psychopathic-neurotic continuum as a major differentiating factor between the groups.