Academic education in addictology (addiction science) in the Czech Republic: Analysis of the (pre-1989) historical origins
Abstrakt
BACKGROUND: In the Czech Republic, education in addiction science consists of a distinctive and interconnected system of non-medical healthcare education on the Bachelor's (Bc) and Master's (MA) levels, followed by a doctoral study programme (PhD). AIMS: This case study seeks to identify, describe and explain important events in shaping the historical context of the Czech education and research programmes in addictology.
DESIGN: The historical review is based on qualitative content analysis of central written documents. RESULTS: In the 19th century Czech territory, problematic alcohol use was addressed through self-help activities in the second half of the nineteenth century.
During the 1950s and 1960s, a new generation of Czech psychiatrists emerged with an interest in alcohol treatment and in research of hallucinogenic drugs. Because of the Iron Curtain, Czech practitioners had to develop their own concept of addiction and ideas on training psychotherapists so they could not be labelled western or anti-state, or be subject to intense state control.
CONCLUSIONS: The final profile of the study programmes is the outcome of a long-term process that commenced in the 1950s but with roots in the interwar years, when addictology in the Czech Republic reflected traditional healthcare-oriented models of training and education. In this context the historical development in Czecholovakia and later Czech Relpublic can be characterized as a combination of early interest in self-help activities followed by the development of specialized treatment programmes both affected by a futher 40 years behind the "iron curtain" and intensively confrontated with harm and risk reducation interventions after the Velvet revolution.