Treatment of Alcoholics during a period of transition : Falkenbergs temperance board 1945-1947 and 1955-1957

This essay examines the evolving work of the temperance board in the Swedish town of Falkenberg during two time-periods: 1945-1947 and 1955-1957. This delimitation is based on the transformation of national Swedish alcohol policy which occurred in the middle of the 1950s, signified by the disappearance of a number of restrictions regarding the sale of alcohol. Simultaneously, previous research demonstrate that a process of medicalisation of alcoholism took place on the national stage. This study aims to ascertain to what degree this macrotrend was replicated on the level of municipalities. This essay found that both the attitudes and practice of the local temperance board in Falkenberg underwent a transformation between the studied periods. In the earlier period alcoholism and alcoholics were often characterized in social and moral terms with the board focusing on the moral character of the individual and the social consequences of addiction. In the later period addiction to alcohol was to a greater degree treated as a medical issue to be treated by medical professionals. This process of medicalisation meant that the role of the temperance board in Falkenberg in dealing with individuals suspected of alcoholism sharply declined in favour of modern medical treatment performed chiefly by doctors. Especially the use of medical treatment with antabuse became prevalent in the later period of study.