First facility for the institutional treatment of alcohol dependence in the Czechoslovak Republic: Case study of the Tuchlov treatment facility (1923-1938)
Abstract
Background: The inpatient alcohol treatment has a continuous tradition dating to 1948 in what is now the Czech Republic. The foundations for the so-called Apolinar Addiction Treatment Model were laid down by Jaroslav Skála in 1948.
There were three institutional inpatient facilities specialising in the treatment of alcohol dependency - Velké Kunčice (in operation from 1911 to 1915), Tuchlov (1923-1938), and Istebné nad Oravou (1937-1939) prior to the establishment of the Apolinar treatment facility, neither one of the treatment facilities have been restored after their dissolution. Aim: To explore the origin, operation, and dissolution of the specialised inpatient alcohol treatment facility in Tuchlov, the first of its kind in what is now the Czech Republic and describe the system of its operation.
Methods: Qualitative content analysis of available historical documents was used to collect the data.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 creation and development of the phenomenon of institutional inpatient treatment.
Results and conclusion: Through the agency of the Czechoslovak Temperance Association, the Ministry of Public Health and Physical Education operated the first specialised alcohol dependency treatment institution in Tuchlov (1923 to 1938). The qualitative analysis of historical documents confirmed the efficiency of this fully-fledged institutional treatment facility, the experience of which was used by Jaroslav Skála in creating and developing the Apolinar Addiction Treatment Model, while the program in Tuchlov was one of the first complex clinical experiences originating from the Swiss Ellikon model.