Encouraging A Change in Viewpoint
In 1945 Mann became inspired with the desire to eliminate the stigma and ignorance regarding alcoholism, and to encourage the "disease model" which viewed it as a medical/psychological problem, not a moral failing. She helped start the Yale School of Alcohol Studies (now at Rutgers), and organized the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), now the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence or NCADD.
Three ideas formed the basis of her message:
- Alcoholism is a disease and the alcoholic a sick person.
- The alcoholic can be helped and is worth helping.
- Alcoholism is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility.
In the 1950s Edward R. Murrow included her in his list of the 10 greatest living Americans. Her book New Primer on Alcoholism was published in 1958.
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