ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some tests of the hypothesis and reviews some of the data on its utility, including published and unpublished data collected at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The concept of reinstatement after abstinence has recently been subjected to careful laboratory study in clinics where it has not been regarded as unethical to give large amounts of alcohol, or alcohol over successive days, to abstinent alcoholics. In a prison population, Edwards, Gattoni and Hensman found that dependence symptoms correlated with whether or not the man had drunk at the time of his arrest, the number of drunken arrests, the number of times he had been in prison and with unemployment, and with ‘often’ having amnesia. In response to some informal social control or a threat or some newly acquired attitude, the drinker may decide to change his habits.
