From Moral Illness to Pathological Disease

Harding, G. Lankester

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-19125-3_8

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Addiction became a way of explaining drug use and also absolving doctors from responsibility. It was a “disease of the will.” This combination of medicine and morality both in the conceptualization of the addict and in the nature of addiction itself was standard in the late 19th century, with input from the temperance movement and the antiopium movement articulated by medical doctors, many of whom were also temperance supporters (Berridge, 1979; Harding, 1988; Parssinen & Kerner, 1980). Such analyses confirm the overall arguments of Michel Foucault (2001) whose histories of sexuality and madness indicate that in the 19th century an inseparable bond was formed between medicine and morality.…”

Section: Historiographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Addiction in Europe, 1860s–1960s

Berridge

Mold

Beccaria³

et al. 2014

Contemporary Drug Problems

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Concepts play a central part in the formulation of problems and proposed solutions to the use of substances. This article reports the initial results from a cross European historical study, carried out to a common methodology, of the language of addiction and policy responses in two key periods, 1860-1930 and the 1950s and 1960s. It concludes that the language of addiction was varied and non standard in the first period. The Anglo-American model of 'inebriety' did not apply across Europe but there was a common focus on theories of heredity and national degeneration. Post World War Two there was a more homogenous language but still distinct national differences in emphasis and national interests and policy responses to different substances. More research will be needed to deepen understanding of the conditions under which these changes took place and the social and policy appeal of disease theories.

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Section: Historiographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Addiction in Europe, 1860s–1960s

Berridge

Mold

Beccaria³

et al. 2014

Contemporary Drug Problems

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“…Meanwhile, Courtwright explained the socialization of public morality by which clinical studies on opium dependence helped the establishment of prohibitionist drug regime in the 20 th century US (Courtwright 1982;Peters 1983). Similarly, Peters and Harding, on two separate occasions, related the ANT-styled interactions between medical sciences and human thoughts that forged the reality of narcotic control (Peters 1981;Harding 1988). Taken in tandem, the notion of disuniting the Latourian marriage of things and objects is becoming Separating "Things" from "Objects" for the History of Opium Addiction:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separating “Things” from “Objects” for the History of Opium Addiction

Chen

2023

Transversal

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Latour’s endeavor to unite the dichotomic categorizations of “objects” and “things” in the ANT-based reality has inherent limitations. Therefore, the author undertakes three enterprises. First, with the theoretical reinforcements of realist philosophy, we shall appreciate why “things” and “objects” cannot be treated as two related manifestations of the same entity. Second, by exemplifying the Victorian history of medicalized opium addiction, this article suggests a divorce of the “humanistic things” from the “nonhuman objects” through which ANT (actor-network theory) is refined by moral externalism and interaction theory to explain the about-face of British drug values. Third, the epistemological argument of how the de-unification of “things” and “objects” in ANT can facilitate us to combat the “invasions” of what Latour vehemently called the “conspiracy theorists” is explicated. Taken together, the take-home message is that the ontology of an ANT-based reality is not about contextually integrating things with objects, but about distinguishing facts from concepts.

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“…The addiction concept has been critically analyzed by historians and sociologists (Berridge, 1999; Campbell, 2007; Harding, 1988; Seddon, 2010). However, with some notable exceptions (Connors, 1994; Koutroulis, 1998; Lindesmith, 1938; Walmsley, 2013), withdrawal has been largely neglected in historical and sociological analyses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coming Off Drugs

Walmsley

2016

Contemporary Drug Problems

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Heroin withdrawal is perhaps one of the most taken-for-granted components of the addiction framework. Heroin users as well as researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have become dependent on it for thinking about and acting upon the process of heroin leaving the body. It is thought to be among the most challenging aspects of the recovery journey and has been linked to a range of public health, legal, and social problems. The taken-for-granted nature of heroin withdrawal has arguably limited its scrutiny in sociological and historical analyses. This article offers an alternative and critical perspective that draws attention to the heterogeneity of historical events and strategies that have left their mark on the withdrawing body of the heroin user. It maps changes in the discourse from the 18th century to the present and closes with developments in the neuroscience of addiction, which have relocated withdrawal from the body to the neurocircuitry of the brain and reframed it as a negative emotional state. This new language suggests the future of the discourse of withdrawal might be relatively short. The analysis moves beyond existing understandings of withdrawal as the simple absence of drugs from the body.

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From Moral Illness to Pathological Disease

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Addiction in Europe, 1860s–1960s

Addiction in Europe, 1860s–1960s

Separating “Things” from “Objects” for the History of Opium Addiction

Coming Off Drugs

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