The Making of Addiction: The 'use and Abuse' of Opium in Nineteenth-century Britain (The History of Medicine in Context) (The History of Medicine in Context)

What does drug addiction mean to us? What did it mean to others in the past? And how are these meanings connected? In modern society, the idea of drug addiction is a fixed and commonly understood concept, yet this was not always the case in the past. This book uncovers the original influences that shaped the creation and the various interpretations of addiction as a disease, and of addiction to opiates in particular. It delves into the treatments, regimes, and prejudices that surrounded the condition, a newly emerging pathological entity and a form of 'moral insanity' during the nineteenth century. The source material for this book is rich and surprising. Letters and diaries provide the most moving material, detailing personal struggles with addiction and the trials of those who cared and despaired. Confessions of shame, deceit, misery and terror sit alongside those of deep sensual pleasure, visionary manifestations and blissful freedom from care. The reader can follow the lifelong opium careers of literary figures, artists and politicians, glimpse a raw underworld of hidden drug use, or see the bleakness of urban and rural poverty alleviated by daily doses of opium. Delving into diaries, letters and confessions, this book exposes the medical case histories and the physician's mad, lazy, commercial, contemptuous, desperate, altruistic and frustrated attempts to deal with drug addiction. It demonstrates that many of the stigmatising prejudices arose from false 'facts' and semi-mythical beliefs and thus has significant implications, not only for the history of addiction, but also for how view the condition today. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Perspectives on addiction......Page 10 Modern definitions of addiction......Page 15 Opium in context: a brief history of antiquity of use, methods of production, and means of imbibing......Page 17 Concluding remarks......Page 21 Part I: The Cultural History of Addiction in Nineteenth-Century Britain......Page 24 Experience and empathy......Page 26 Thomas De Quincey and the experience of addiction......Page 28 Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the experience of addiction......Page 39 The double-edged sword of opium......Page 48 Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literary experiences of addiction......Page 49 Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning......Page 55 Lizzie Siddall and Dante Gabriel Rossetti......Page 57 Opium addiction in mid - to late Victorian fiction......Page 60 Concluding remarks......Page 67 News of foreign practices......Page 70 The anti-opium movement......Page 74 Medicine and the Chinese influence......Page 81 Concluding remarks......Page 84 Part II: The Medical History of Addiction in Nineteenth-Century Britain......Page 86 The poisonous beginnings of ‘use and abuse’......Page 88 Early warnings......Page 89 The case of the Earl of Mar......Page 92 Suicide, accidental poisoning, and the growing response......Page 98 Poisonous fears and poisonous years......Page 109 Toxicology: the need to define poison......Page 114 Concluding remarks......Page 119 Background to changes into the medical perception of addiction......Page 122 Eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century writings on addiction......Page 125 Addiction as a disease......Page 128 Medical responsibility and culpability......Page 135 Concluding remarks......Page 146 The swing of the pendulum......Page 148 The pathologist......Page 151 The physician......Page 160 The philosopher......Page 168 Concluding remarks......Page 173 Conclusion......Page 174 Appendix 1: Opium strengths and doses......Page 180 Appendix 2: Opium and alcohol......Page 182 Bibliography......Page 188 A......Page 198 B......Page 199 C......Page 200 E......Page 201 J......Page 202 L......Page 203 O......Page 204 R......Page 206 T......Page 207 Z......Page 208 What does drug addiction mean to us? What did it mean to others in the past? And how are these meanings connected? In modern society the idea of drug addiction is a given and commonly understood concept, yet this was not always the case in the past. This book uncovers the original influences that shaped the creation and the various interpretations of addiction as a disease, and of addiction to opiates in particular. It delves into the treatments, regimes, and prejudices that surrounded the condition, a newly emerging pathological entity and a form of 'moral insanity' during the nineteenth century. The source material for this book is rich and surprising. Letters and diaries provide the most moving material, detailing personal struggles with addiction and the trials of those who cared and despaired. Confessions of shame, deceit, misery and terror sit alongside those of deep sensual pleasure, visionary manifestations and blissful freedom from care. The reader can follow the lifelong opium careers of literary figures, artists and politicians, glimpse a raw underworld of hidden drug use, or see the bleakness of urban and rural poverty alleviated by daily doses of opium. Delving into diaries, letters and confessions this book exposes the medical case histories and the physician's mad, lazy, commercial, contemptuous, desperate, altruistic and frustrated attempts to deal with drug addiction. It demonstrates that many of the stigmatising prejudices arose from false 'facts' and semi-mythical beliefs and thus has significant implications, not only for the history of addiction, but also for how we view the condition today. This book uncovers the original influences that shaped the creation and the various interpretations of addiction as a disease, and of addiction to opiates in particular. It delves into the treatments, regimes, and prejudices that surrounded the condition, a newly emerging pathological entity and a form of 'moral insanity' during the nineteenth century. Letters, diaries and newspapers are drawn upon to detail personal struggles with addiction and the trials of those who cared and despaired What does drug addiction mean to us? This book uncovers the influences that shaped the creation and the various interpretations of addiction as a disease, and of addiction to opiates. It delves into the treatments, regimes, and prejudices that surrounded the condition, a pathological entity and a form of 'moral insanity' during the 19th-century. A social and intellectual history of the concept of addiction, concentrating on the use and abuse of opiates. The book looks at public and personal perceptions of chronic opiate use in the nineteenth century and at the development of addiction as a medical condition, a disease entity, where no such definition had previously existed.