Alcoholism In The 19th Century

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The earliest treatment for alcoholism recognized the condition as a disease. Alcoholics were seen to suffer “from a malady, a disease that was beyond his or her control and required treatment” (Faupel, Weaver, Corzine, 2014). Chronic inebriation, which could be said to be synonymous with alcoholism, was seen by Dr. Benjamin Rush during the prohibitionist movement of the nineteenth century as both an addiction and disease (Faupel et.al, 2014). Society also recognized in the nineteenth century that the problems of alcoholics and alcohol abusers were better addressed in rehabilitation facilities than jail or a lunatic asylum, placing them in “inebriates’ institutions” (Faupel et.al, 2014). In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded with the