Alcoholism programs in the USSR and Yugoslavia: effects of the social context on treatment

The social context in which alcoholism treatment takes place contributes greatly to its nature and outcome. This issue is examined in two socialist countries, based on site visits and literature review. A hospital-based treatment program and its related social Club system in Yugoslavia are part of a close-knit national treatment network oriented toward self-help and peer therapy. The principal approaches to alcoholism treatment in the USSR are closely integrated into the Communist social and political structure, and include sobering-up stations, factory-based clinics, hospital-based inpatient and outpatient facilities, and a quasi-penal system for recidivists. The impact of the following issues on alcoholism treatment is discussed: (1) the public information system, in both ideology and propaganda; (2) the state's regulation of deviant behavior, as a component of the medical treatment system; and finally, (3) the acceptable role for peer treatment in a given social context.