60 years of support in alcohol use disorder recovery in Croatia

On April 1, 1964, the Zagreb School of Alcoholology (Centre for Alcoholism Research and Prevention) and the first Club for alcoholics in treatment were founded. The primary approach to the treatment of AUD in the former Yugoslavia at that time was hospital detoxification, followed by advice to drink less (Hudolin, 1991). The main reason for medical treatment was medical complications related to AUD (cyrosis, delirium tremens, severe alcohol intoxication, etc.), as alcoholism was seen as a moral rather than a medical problem. Dissatisfied with the efficiency of the treatment of alcoholism at the time, Professor Hudolin proposed a model suitable for the socialist Yugoslavia, based on his international experience with self-help groups and therapeutic communities. The idea of self-help groups for families with a member suffering from AUD, based on a socio-ecological approach, was widely accepted in Croatia, other republics in the former Yugoslavia and abroad. This model, known as the Hudolin model  or the Zagreb model, is now practised in several countries around the world (e.g. Ecuador, Italy, Russia, Norway, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Denmark). The aim of this article is to present the development and current overview of the Hudolin model for supporting AUD recovery in Croatia.