Definition: A term of variable usage, most commonly implying a chronic or progressive disorder occurring as a result of harmful drinking, characterized by impairment of multiple higher cortical functions, including memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgement. Consciousness is not clouded. The cognitive impairments are commonly accompanied by deterioration in emotional control, social behaviour, or motivation. The existence of alcoholic dementia as a discrete syndrome is doubted by some, who ascribe the dementia to other causes.
