Early alcoholism treatment: the Emmanuel Movement and Richard Peabody

The history of alcoholism treatment in the early twentieth century is outlined. The methods of the Emmanuel Movement and of Richard Peabody are described, biographical details of their main practitioners are given, the populations treated are described, and the predecessors and successors of the two methods are discussed. In addition, the two methods are compared with each other and with the methods of Alcoholics Anonymous and Freudian psychoanalysis. The founder of the E. Movement was a clergyman, Dr. Elwood Worcester, whose method was designed to treat a variety of neurotic disorders. He felt that all diseases, including alcoholism, had physical, mental and spiritual components. His principal techniques of relaxation therapy and suggestion (including autosuggestion) were used to reach the unconscious. Worcester felt that alcoholics could be helped by redirecting their attention away from their problems to a life of service and spirituality. Prayer, group support and self-help were important. Worcester tried to reduce patients' guilt and rejected temperance preaching. He felt that recovery must come from surrender to external forces and to the healing capacities of the unconscious. One patient of his, Courtenay Baylor, began to work with him at the E. Church. Like Worcester, Baylor believed that alcohol, and not one's life history, caused alcoholism. Baylor believed that alcoholism resulted from mental and physical "tenseness" and, like Worcester, he used relaxation therapy. He believed in giving a longer period of treatment than did Worcester and in providing more treatment for the families of alcoholics. One of Baylor's most famous patients was Peabody. Peabody had no credentials but he refined and professionalized the E. treatment method. He was a strong believer in the control of one's feelings and in increased efficiency--his patients were told to follow detailed time plans. He believed that early family history caused alcoholism. Like the E. Movement, he felt that relaxation, suggestion and catharsis were important. Unlike the E. Movement, he regarded the unconscious as an obstacle. His method was also less spiritual. His philosophy seemed to have been derived from the mind-cure movement, including New Thought; he was not interested in the body. The fact that the practitioners of the Emmanuel and Peabody methods were not physicians is discussed. The treatment success of both methods is unclear.