At a time when the word addiction was not even in a physician鈥檚 lexicon, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, and William Halsted, the father of modern surgery, simultaneously and independently fell into the clutches of their period鈥檚 鈥渨onder drug鈥�, cocaine.
In An Anatomy of Addiction, medical historian Howard Markel openly addresses their 鈥渞ecklessly practic[ing] medicine while under the influence鈥�, as he retells the colourful stories of how each man rose to greatness and then succumbed to the product of their own academic curiosity.
Ever pragmatic, Markel remains a loyal supporter of Freud鈥檚 and Halsted鈥檚 controversial but remarkable careers, concluding that their 鈥渧ulnerability to the disease of addiction demonstrates that the two intellectual giants were all too human鈥�.
Advertisement
An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the miracle drug cocaine
Pantheon