‘Worthy doctors […] allow me to come forward and lecture on this matter’: Thomas De Quincey and the experiential and sociocultural components of substance use

Thomas De Quincey's 1821 autobiographical work, 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,' offers a subjective and objective account of his opium use and dependence, recorded before psychiatry was established. His self-analysis foreshadows psychoanalytic methods and psychopharmacology. The text raises questions for medical humanities about the patient's voice, therapeutic creativity, and literature as a record of lived experience, underscoring literature's relevance for psychiatric practitioners.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Summary This article highlights the relevance of the humanities to psychiatric discussions. It considers Thomas De Quincey’s autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), where the author charts his opium experiences and dependence. The text provides an intersection of subjective and objective evaluations of drug use, and records experiences undertaken before establishment of psychiatric disciplines. De Quincey’s self-analysis anticipates psychoanalytic techniques and psychopharmacology. This article raises questions applicable to the medical humanities, such as complexities of the patient’s voice, therapeutic creativity and how literature functions as a record of phenomenology. It underlines the relevance of literature for psychiatric practitioners.