Beyond the Disease Paradigm of Drug Use: De Quinceyâs Opium-Eating as Self-Medication

Martina Allen

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Chapter 7 Beyond the Disease Paradigm of Drug Use: De Quinceyâs Opium-Eating as Self-Medication

in The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

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Martina Allen

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Art:: Kapitel

Seiten:: 136â161

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004745247_009

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Abstract

The figure of Thomas De Quincey occupies a special position within the modern drug discourse â he is often described as the most famous opium addict in literature, or worse, accused of seducing countless others to fall into the trap of opium addiction. This retrospective demonisation of De Quincey may be linked to the rise of the modern drug discourse that took shape in the second half of the nineteenth century and conceives of addiction as a disease. This article first looks at how De Quinceyâs account of his opium consumption became instrumental to the formulation of the disease paradigm of drug use by examining the reception of the Confessions in the Sherlock Holmes story âThe Man with the Twisted Lipâ which illustrates late-19th century views on opium use that centre on the seductive potential of the drug. Here, an aristocratic character is enthralled by De Quinceyâs opium visions and his decision to try the âOrientalâ drug in one of the infamous Chinese opium dens of Londonâs East End marks the beginning of his inevitable demise. This episode illustrates how closely conceptions of drug use became associated with notions of race, class and national identity. I read De Quincey as a pioneering voice that drew readersâ attention to dimensions of drug use that fall outside of the disease paradigm. Thus, I take De Quincey at his word when he distinguishes between recreational and medicinal uses of opium and insists that it is chronic pain, which he repeatedly links to experiences of adversity, that necessitates the use of laudanum. A reading of De Quinceyâs âcaseâ from a perspective that seeks to transcend the dominant addiction discourse allows us to compare the experiential knowledge of the nineteenth-century opium user with current findings on the effects of psychoactive substance use.

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The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

Middle Ages to the Present

Reihe:Â Narratives and Mental Health, Band: 4

Cover The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

ISBN:: 9789004745247

Verleger:: Brill

Print-Publikationsdatum:: 13 Nov 2025

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Geschichte	Musikwissenschaft

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Chapter 7 Beyond the Disease Paradigm of Drug Use: De Quinceyâs Opium-Eating as Self-Medication

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The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

Middle Ages to the Present

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Chapter 7 Beyond the Disease Paradigm of Drug Use: De Quinceyâs Opium-Eating as Self-Medication