Alcoholismo y degeneración en el manicomio departamental de Antioquia, Colombia (1920-1930)

Abstract

In this article we analyze 159 clinical records of patients with diagnoses related to alcohol at the Departamental Mental Hospital of Antioquia, between the years of 1920 and 1930. In that decade an institutional transformation began with the arrival at the direction of Dr. Lázaro Uribe Calad. Besides it was very discussed in the medical and political sector the idea of the racial degeneracy, a matter in which alcoholism played a central role. It is observed in medical publications a constant concern due to the terrible consequences that the high consumption of alcohol could bring in society. However, a deeper review of sources such as the annual Statistics of the Mental Hospital and the clinical records, shows how clinical practice reflected another reality. It is concluded that both, the number of patients who were diagnosed as alcoholic or whose etiology was related to the drink, were much lower than those indicated by the doctors. These incomes mainly responded to moral and social problems, but not to psychiatric issues.