The role of recovering physicians in 19th century addiction medicine: An organizational case study

An elaborate network of inebriate homes, inebriate asylums, nationally fran chised private addiction treatment institutes, and proprietary home cures f or addiction arose on the American landscape between 1850 and 1900. The pin nacle of the movement to professionalize America's first addiction treatmen t field was the founding of the American Association for the Cure of Inebri ety in 1870 and its publication of the first issue of the Journal of Inebri ety in 1876. One of the most contentious issues among the various branches of this new professional field was the question of the use of "reformed men " as physicians, managers and attendants within treatment institutions. Thi s article describes the employment of recovering physicians within one 19th century addiction treatment franchise-the Keeley Institutes-and documents the nature of the professional debate stirred by what was then a controvers ial practice.