Word: freude
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Wonder Drug. In 1884, before he began the studies that led to the development of psychoanalysis, Freud was 28, a fledgling physician with a fiancee but without the funds to marry. He had been searching for some time for a way to establish himself and gain the respect of his colleagues. A paper by a German physician named Theodor Aschen-brandt seemed to provide the way. Conquistadores had noted the stimulant effect of coca leaves on Andean Indians. Aschenbrandt tried the drug on Bavarian soldiers and cautiously reported that while suppressing their hunger, it also increased their mental powers...
Aschenbrandt's paper triggered Freud's own studies of cocaine. He obtained some samples of the drug and first tried it himself. It gave him an emotional lift, producing what he described as a "normal euphoria." After that he used cocaine frequently, always with the same results. Freud coolly summarized his experiences in his notes: "You perceive an increase of self-control, possess more vitality and capacity for work. This result is enjoyed without any of the unpleasant aftermaths which accompany exhilaration through alcoholic means...
...years that followed, Freud continued to study and analyze cocaine's effects, both on himself and on some patients. He found the drug not only useful in overcoming depression but impressively effective against some purely physiological complaints. He used it to treat stomach disorders and persistent coughing. He was careful not to administer it indiscriminately; although he initially believed that cocaine was not habit-forming, he found its effects on patients too unpredictable to justify widespread...
...Though Freud and a number of American physicians reported some initial successes in treating morphine addicts with cocaine,* a fellow physician named Adolf Albrecht Erlenmeyer warned that cocaine was itself addictive and described it as the "third scourge of mankind"-after morphine and alcohol...
...Freud soon realized to his chagrin that Erlenmeyer was correct. Freud's friend and patient, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow, became the first morphine addict in Europe to be cured by using cocaine; he was also one of the first to become dependent on the new drug. This unhappy development dampened Freud's interest in cocaine and helped turn his attention to the psychological theories that eventually won him fame...