Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

428 A Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions
variables. The findings were in some respects difficult to interpret, but the most
interesting finding was that alcohol led to significant decreases in suggestibility
only in subjects scoring high on feelings of Anger and Guilt on the DES. The
implication is that alcohol has greater effects on reducing suggestibility among
persons who are prone to strong feelings of anger and guilt. Alcohol was also
associated with decreases in suggestibility for subjects who scored low on Social
Evaluative Anxiety and Trait Anxiety.
THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL
ON INTERROGATIVE SUGGESTIBILITY
The finding that alcohol intoxication decreases suggestibility is an interesting
finding. However, not much is known about the effects of alcohol withdrawal on
suggestibility and compliance. It would be expected that during severe alcohol
withdrawal people would have problems coping with interrogation. This has
been investigated recently in two studies of Icelandic alcoholics by Gudjonsson,
Hannesdottir, Petursson and Tyrfingson (2000) and Gudjonsson, Hannesdottir,
Petursson and Bjornsson (2002). In the first study Gudjonsson et al. (2000) attempted
to test the hypothesis that alcoholics withdrawing from alcohol are
more suggestible at the beginning of their alcohol withdrawal than towards
the end of it. A group of 75 patients admitted as in-patients to a detoxification
centre in Iceland completed measurements of Mini-Mental State Examination
(MMSE), state and trait anxiety, suggestibility, memory, confabulation and compliance.
The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: first, patients
to be tested psychologically on the second or third day of their admission
to hospital; second, patients who were to be assessed towards the end of
their 10 day stay in hospital (i.e. after six or more days). Significant differences
emerged between the two groups with regard to impaired cognitive abilities and
heightened anxiety symptoms, but no differences were found for suggestibility,
confabulation of compliance. However, a significantly larger Shift score on the
Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale was observed on the third day as an in-patient,
as compared with that obtained on the second day of admission and for patients
in group 2. The implication is that on the third day of detoxification patients
become significantly less able to cope with interrogative pressure. This obviously
has practical implications for police interviewing. Gudjonsson et al. (2000)
suggested that an experimental study was needed to investigate the effects of
alcohol withdrawal during the first week of hospital admission.
Gudjonsson et al. (2002a) extended the previous study in two ways. First,
127 admissions to the detoxification centre were tested psychologically from the
second to the eighth day of admission. There were between 10 and 28 patients
tested on each of the seven days, giving data for seven independent groups.
Secondly, the psychological vulnerabilities of alcoholics who had stopped drinking
were compared with those of the in-patients. These consisted of two control
groups, which included 20 of the in-patients being re-assessed after they had
been alcohol free for several months, and 27 ex-alcoholics who were attending
groups run by Alcoholic Anonymous (AA). The same tests were used as