Alkoholmissbrauch und -abh�ngigkeit in der ehemaligen DDR und in den neuen Bundesl�ndern

Abstract

The objective of this paper is the description of the transformation process after the reunification of East- and West-Germany taking the health care structures for alcoholics as an example. First the epidemiology of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are presented such as the individual alcohol consumption. These data are completed by hospital data. The social and organizational problems created by the transformation process after the reunification of Germany are described. Necessary structural changes and the expected development are discussed.

Presenting the German Democratic Republic as a therapeutic state: Alcoholism and the law in Polizeiruf 110

“…While the episodes are quick to assign moral responsibility to private individuals, they overlook the political and economic context of alcohol consumption in the GDR – which, by 1988, had the highest per capita consumption of spirits in the world (Sieber et al, 1998: 91). After watching Der Teufel hat den Schnaps gemacht , two viewers wrote in to highlight this broader context.…”

“…This letter alerts us to one of the blind spots in the episodes: they make no reference to support offered by organizations affiliated to the Catholic or Protestant Churches, even though both Kochan and researchers at the Charité’s Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine and Epidemiology note that such organizations played an important role in providing aid to addicts in the GDR (Kochan, 2011: 310–11; Sieber et al, 1998: 93). The Polizeiruf episodes instead present the state as having a monopoly on the provision of therapeutic aid: anything else could have implied that state help was insufficient.…”

Riskanter Alkoholkonsum und alkoholbezogene Störungen in Vorpommern: Die Studie „Leben und Gesundheit in Vorpommern” (SHIP) und der Bundesgesundheitssurvey 1998 im Vergleich

“…Die östlichen Bundesländer wurden diesbezüglich bisher wenig untersucht. Ein internationaler Vergleich aus dem Jahr 1988 zeigt, dass die DDR-Bevölkerung seinerzeit den höchsten Konsum an Spirituosen mit 16 Litern pro Person pro Jahr aufwies [6]. Im Gegensatz dazu lag der Pro-Kopf-Verbrauch an Reinalkohol aller alkoholischen Getränkesorten zusammengenommen in der DDR immer unter dem der BRD [7].…”