An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine [Kindle Edition]
Author: Howard Markel | Language: English | ISBN: B004J4WJXE | Format: PDF, EPUB
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From acclaimed medical historian Howard Markel, author of When Germs Travel, the astonishing account of the years-long cocaine use of Sigmund Freud, young, ambitious neurologist, and William Halsted, the equally young, pathfinding surgeon. Markel writes of the physical and emotional damage caused by the then-heralded wonder drug, and how each man ultimately changed the world in spite of it—or because of it. One became the father of psychoanalysis; the other, of modern surgery.
Both men were practicing medicine at the same time in the 1880s: Freud at the Vienna General Hospital, Halsted at New York’s Bellevue Hospital. Markel writes that Freud began to experiment with cocaine as a way of studying its therapeutic uses—as an antidote for the overprescribed morphine, which had made addicts of so many, and as a treatment for depression.
Halsted, an acclaimed surgeon even then, was curious about cocaine’s effectiveness as an anesthetic and injected the drug into his arm to prove his theory. Neither Freud nor Halsted, nor their colleagues, had any idea of the drug’s potential to dominate and endanger their lives. Addiction as a bona fide medical diagnosis didn’t even exist in the elite medical circles they inhabited.
In An Anatomy of Addiction, Markel writes about the life and work of each man, showing how each came to know about cocaine; how Freud found that the drug cured his indigestion, dulled his aches, and relieved his depression. The author writes that Freud, after a few months of taking the magical drug, published a treatise on it, Über Coca, in which he described his “most gorgeous excitement.” The paper marked a major shift in Freud’s work: he turned from studying the anatomy of the brain to exploring the human psyche.
Halsted, one of the most revered of American surgeons, became the head of surgery at the newly built Johns Hopkins Hospital and then professor of surgery, the hospital’s most exalted position, committing himself repeatedly to Butler Hospital, an insane asylum, to withdraw from his out-of control cocaine use.
Halsted invented modern surgery as we know it today: devising new ways to safely invade the body in search of cures and pioneering modern surgical techniques that controlled bleeding and promoted healing. He insisted on thorough hand washing, on scrub-downs and whites for doctors and nurses, on sterility in the operating room—even inventing the surgical glove, which he designed and had the Goodyear Rubber Company make for him—accomplishing all of this as he struggled to conquer his unyielding desire for cocaine.
An Anatomy of Addiction tells the tragic and heroic story of each man, accidentally struck down in his prime by an insidious malady: tragic because of the time, relationships, and health cocaine forced each to squander; heroic in the intense battle each man waged to overcome his affliction as he conquered his own world with his visionary healing gifts. Here is the full story, long overlooked, told in its rich historical context.
From the Hardcover edition. Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine [Kindle Edition]
- File Size: 4669 KB
- Print Length: 352 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (July 19, 2011)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004J4WJXE
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,403 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #10 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Freud, Sigmund
- #65 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Special Topics > History
In Howard Markel's "An Anatomy of Addiction," two renowned figures are attracted to "a miracle drug" that reduced appetite and the need for sleep, sharpened one's focus, relieved depression, and induced a feeling of euphoria. It also had anesthetic properties that could be useful for surgeons performing dental or ophthalmological procedures. Both Sigmund Freud, the pioneering psychoanalyst, and William Halsted, one of the greatest surgeons of his time, were fascinated by this drug and decided to try it out on themselves. As a result, both became addicted to cocaine.
Dr. Markel's command of his subject is impressive; his excellent source materials include letters, journal articles, and monographs. The author provides enlightening background information about medical practice in the nineteenth century, especially in the United States and Vienna. He vividly describes Bellevue Hospital in New York City, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and the Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna, large complexes that were bursting at the seams with both affluent and indigent patients. Young physicians-in-training flocked to these institutions to learn from more experienced and skilled medical practitioners.
It is fascinating to learn how naïve people were concerning cocaine's short and long-term effects. The same could be said of opium, morphine, and laudanum, all of which were dispensed liberally to treat a host of complaints. No one understood the underlying nature of addiction. There were no "rehabs." If someone were unfortunate enough to become dependent on a drug, he or she would have a very difficult time breaking the habit. Freud and Halsted were particularly susceptible to this disease because of who they were.
Both Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, and William Halsted, originator of modern surgery, practiced medicine in the 1880s and experimented on themselves and others with cocaine's possible therapeutic uses. Freud was interested in it as an antidote for morphine addiction and as treatment for addiction, Halsted saw it as a possible anesthetic. Freud found the drug cured his indigestion, dulled his aches, and relieved his depression. After taking the drug for a few months Freud shifted from his initial focus on neurology to psychology/psychiatry. Halsted became professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and devised new and safer surgical techniques - while struggling with his addiction acquired experimenting.
'An Anatomy of Addiction' opens with a laborer being admitted to Bellevue Hospital with a serious compound fracture of the leg. Staff called upon Halsted, their best surgeon, but he had just taken a dose of cocaine. He took one look at the patient and went home to a seven-month cocaine oblivion. Meanwhile, in Europe Freud was using the drug to self-medicate his own anxieties. At the time almost 15% of prescriptions contained cocaine, there were no controlled substances, and addiction was not yet a medical diagnosis. Other users of the day included Ulysses Grant, Queen Victoria, the Shah of Peria, Thomas Edison, and Arthur Conan Doyle (also a physician).
Freud's career goals was to be appointed to a faculty position at the Vienna Medical School, and saw lab experimentation as his preferred means of getting it. His focus on cocaine was initially motivated by a desire to help a friend, Dr. Fleischl-Marxow, addicted to morphine because of the intense, chronic pain created by a non-healing amputation.
