The First Specialised Residential Treatment Institution and Programme for Alcohol-Related Problems in the Historical Area of Bohemia and Moravia: Case Study of the First Residential Alcohol Programme in Velke Kuncice
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A continuous tradition of institutional inpatient alcohol treatment in what is now the Czech Republic dates back to 1948. At present this type of treatment generally involves the so-called "Apolinar Addiction Treatment Model".
Prior to the establishment of this treatment facility, there were three institutional inpatient facilities specialising in the treatment of alcohol dependency in what was then, or was later to become, Czechoslovakia. They were located respectively in Velké Kunčice, Tuchlov, and Istebné nad Oravou.
The founder of the current model built upon these earlier efforts. AIMS: To explore the development, operation, and dissolution of the specialised inpatient alcohol treatment facility in Velké Kunčice, the earliest establishment of its kind in what is now the Czech Republic, using a case study.
The person of Father Bedřich Konařík, its founder and a pioneer of modern addictology, will also be addressed. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis of available historical documents was used to collect the data.
The subject matter of the documents was categorised with respect to their association with the onset and development of the phenomenon of institutional inpatient treatment. RESULTS: F.
Bedřich Konařík was concerned with the issues of alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse from 1901 onwards. His first treatises on alcohol dependency were published in 1908.
In these texts, in addition to other observations, he advocated the establishment of a specialised institution dedicated to the treatment of alcohol dependency. The institution he had called for was opened in 1911, with F.
Bedřich Konařík-Bečvan becoming its manager. The treatment facility remained in operation until 1915, when it was closed down because all the patients were called up to fight in World War I.
CONCLUSION: Qualitative analysis of historical documents confirmed the existence and efficiency of a fully-fledged institutional treatment facility, which from 1911 to 1915 provided alcohol treatment to male patients in Velké Kunčice. This unique treatment approach was initiated on the territory of this country by F.
Bedřich Konařík, who drew inspiration for this approach especially from Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany. In view of the above, F.
Bedřich Konařík can justly be considered the founder and pioneer of modern residential alcohol dependency treatment in Central Europe.