The relation between alcohol and the so-called alcoholic psychoses is not as simple as was formerly assumed. In many instances alcohol serves merely to
release a reaction that is primarily psychogenic with factors intrinsic in the personality.
In other cases there is such an interplay of psychogenic and metabolic factors that the picture becomes complex.
In Korsakoff´s syndrome and in chronic alcoholic deterioration, the psychosis
is not, as was formerly believed, caused by the toxic effects of the alcohol itself but by thiamine deficiency.
Even in this, the structure of the personality influences the picture.
It is important to remember, too, that alcoholism may be a symptom?some times the most obvious symptom?of another personality, disorder, such as depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, or paresis.
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