With time passing, the ink is now barely legible on the original Bunky’s Doodle. Luckily, the CAS Library managed to digitize its cherished treasure in 2011, saving an electronic copy for posterity and future research.
The famous Bunky’s Doodle, or the Progressive Phases of Alcoholism by Dr. E. M. Jellinek, pictured here, was presented to Jane and George Strachan at the Summer School of Alcohol Studies on July 18, 1950 at Pearson College of Yale University in New Haven, CT.
The text below the Doodle explains its background. The framed document was passed on as a memento from Dr. Strachan to Dr. Gail Milgram, the former Director of Education and Training at Rutgers CAS.
The explanation reads as follows:
The “Doodle” — a simplification of the phases — is the history of concurrent symptoms of behavior during the progression of the illness of alcoholism, which Dr. Jellinek presented for the first time at that Summer School Session. The Phases of Alcoholism are shown in their entirety in my book Alcoholism: treatable illness. They were outlined in detail in the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, vol. 13, No. 4 December 1952.
An illustration of the phases, the Doodle resulted in the “Jellinek curve,” and its widely popularized versions became the foundation is of substance abuse treatment.
References in the text:
- Jellinek, E. M. (1952). Phases of alcohol addiction. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 13(4), 673-684.
- Strachan, J. (1972). Alcoholism: treatable illness: an honorable approach to man’s alcoholism problem. Mitchell Press.