The Practice of Medicinal Alcohol Withdrawal in the Psychiatry of the GDR - The Methods of Aversion and Disulfiram Treatment

Abstract

The aversion and disulfiram treatment used for alcohol withdrawal in the GDR are described in their mode of action, application and in their therapeutic outcome. In this literature study primarily works published in the GDR itself were identified, analysed and contextualised. While aversion therapy caused aversion to alcohol through the development of a conditioned reflex, disulfiram has an alcohol-sensitising effect. In therapeutic practice, the aversion therapy was largely replaced by disulfiram during the 1970 s, although there was no general guideline for its use. Disulfiram therapy could prove itself as a drug adjuvant, but was successively marginalised by psycho- and socio-therapeutic approaches. Both aversion and disulfiram therapy were the central drug procedures for the treatment of people with alcohol problems in the GDR psychiatric system, were applied inconsistently, and complemented a complex therapeutic regime.