Daniel J. Anderson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1921. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas in 1950, obtained a masters degree in clinical psychology from Loyola University in Illinois in 1956 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Ottawa ten years later. He began working at Willmar State Hospital (now the Willmar Regional Treatment Center) near St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1951 as an Intern in psychology. His status was upgraded to Clinical Psychologist after he had earned his graduate degrees. Dr. Anderson began his association with Hazelden as a consultant and lecturer in 1957 while still affiliated with Willmar. In 1961, he joined the Hazelden staff as Executive Vice President and Director. He became President and Director in 1971 and served as President Emeritus from 1986 to 1996. He died in 2003.
Dr. Anderson belonged to the American Psychological Association, the Minnesota Psychological Association, Alcohol and Drug Problems Association of North American, Minnesota Chemical Dependency Association. He was a licensed consulting psychologist and a Minnesota Certified Chemical Dependency Practitioner. He was a popular lecturer both nationally and internationally on such topics as Alcoholics Anonymous, the history of alcohol treatment in the 20th century, the development of self-help groups, chronic illness, and communities of coping and caring. His two best known publications are "The Psychopathology of Denial" and "Behavioral Management of Chronic Illness".
When Dr. Anderson started his career at Willmar Hospital in the early 1950's, alcoholics were still called "inebriates" and were housed in locked wards with the mentally ill. In Minnesota, Willmar was the end destination for all alcoholics who wound up in hospital settings. As members of Alcoholics Anonymous began to make visits to Willmar, the 12 step program they promoted began to change the way alcoholics were treated there. Under the direction of Dr. Nelson J. Bradley, Dr. Jean J. Rossi and Dr. Anderson, the Minnesota Model began to develop. When these three innovators moved on to other venues, they took their new practices with them. Dr. Bradley and Dr. Rossi went on the Lutheran General Hospital system in Illinois, and Dr. Anderson moved on to Hazelden.
Hazelden was founded in 1949 as a private, non-profit, residential, rehabilitation facility for patients with chemical dependency and related addictive behaviors. In this setting where the emphasis was less on the medical aspects of treatment, Anderson was encouraged by the owners to expand on the ideas which germinated at Willmar. He was instrumental in developing the Minnesota Model, the paradigm for treatment not only of alcoholism but all forms of chemical dependency and addictive behavior like gambling. The four basics of the Model are that addiction is a primary, chronic illness distinct from mental illness, that a multidisciplinary team is needed to treat the disease, that a systematic approach to treatment is necessary and that an aftercare program is not an afterthought but an integral part of the treatment. The program is based on AA's twelve steps and is abstinence oriented. Anderson was a proponent of sharing the Hazelden experience. As a result, he and other staff members did training sessions, gave lectures, and attended conferences. The institution itself became a training ground for therapists in the field of addiction treatment as well as a publishing house, producing literature in the field of alcohol and addiction.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Daniel J. Anderson papers, Ms. 2008.025, Brown University Library.
The Dr. Daniel J. Anderson papers consists of research files including magazines, book reviews, newspaper clippings, note cards for lectures, notes taken in lectures, booklets, conference materials, outlines and entire books. There is almost no correspondence. While there is some material from the early 1970's and some up to 2000, most of the material is from the late 1970's through the late 1990's. Taken as a whole, they show the evolution of the 12 step treatment program which came to be called the Minnesota Model.
Each folder represents a thought or concept, a complete package that could be removed from the files and used to generate a talk, a lecture or write the chapter of a book. Because of this approach, Dr. Anderson photocopied certain materials such as the outline of the history of alcohol treatment from the 1940's through the 1990's and the outline of the Minnesota Model of alcohol addiction treatment and included them in each folder or thought package where he would need them. Some topics are labeled "hot" and others such as "Basic basic" and "Thoughts about things" are collections of inspirations which Dr. Anderson hoped would generate new treatment ideas.
The folders as received were not in usable research order, and they were re-arranged in alphabetical order by folder title during processing of the collection.
This collection was given to Brown University as a gift by Marie Anderson on May 3, 2005.
The materials have been transferred from Dr. Anderson’s folders and the folder titles have been retained. In some cases where folders contained other folders, the materials have been separated and the folders have been cross referenced. The folders as received were not in usable research order, and they were re-arranged in alphabetical order by folder title during processing of the collection.
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