ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the emergence of drug addiction, especially morphinism, in German, French, and Danish psychiatry. In the late 19th century, drug addiction (opiate abuse) was associated neither with young people of a lower socioeconomic status, nor with schizophrenia, as it is today. Rather, opiate addiction was seen as the disease of middle aged, affluent people, who were not psychotic. A change in diagnostic procedures occurred in the early 20th century, as more drug abuse patients of a lower social status began to be admitted to psychiatric clinics and hospitals, and social class issues clearly played a significant role in psychiatric diagnoses during this era. Psychopathy was often associated with drug addicts of a lower socioeconomic status, but hardly ever with those addicts who were themselves doctors. Drug abuse was also controlled in different ways depending on the addicts’ social status. In recent decades, the drug problem has reappeared in psychiatry, but when compared to the early 20th century, the social profile and diagnosis of patients are quite different today.
