TY - JOUR
AU - CHESSICK, RICHARD D.
AB - Abstract Frankie's whole body lifted with that smashing surge, the very heart seemed to lift up ... up ... up . . . then rolled over and he slipped into a long, warm bath with one long orgasmic sigh of relief. Algren (The Man with the Golden Arm). Increasing study of the etiology of drug addiction has pointed more and more to a multidetermined origin with the weight of various etiological factors varying from case to case. This paper proposes not so much to study the etiology of drug addiction as to examine in more detail and focus more carefully on the specific experience reported by the addict, following the intravenous injection or intranasal sniffing of opiate drugs before he is physiologically dependent on the drug ("hooked"). The exaltation, euphoria, or "mania" aspect of this sensation has been known since ancient times and was described in famous detail by DeQuincey.10 Kolb,17 in References 1. The author is indebted to Dr. P. Giovaccini for pointing out the tenuousness of making an analogy of this experience to sexual "orgasm." 2. Experienced addicts can easily separate the pharmacogenic orgasm from the sleepiness produced by an overdose of drugs. 3. Experienced social workers at Lexington note that onset of addiction after such loss is one of the most consistent features found in their addictions case histories. 4. The wish to be a social worker is very commonly expressed by addict patients. Their extraordinary kindness to household pets and continual stuffing of these animals with food are further examples of attempts at vicarious satisfaction. 5. Abraham, K.: The Psychological Relations Between Sexuality and Alcoholism (1908) , in Selected Papers , London, Hogarth Press, 1927. 6. Balint, M., and A.: Primary Love and Psychoanalytic Technique , New York, Liveright Company, 1953. 7. Benedek, T.: The Psychosomatic Implications of the Primary Unit: Mother-Child , in Outline of Psychoanalysis , edited by C. Thompson and others, New York, Modern Library, Inc., 1955. 8. Bychowski, G.: Therapy of the Weak Ego , Am. J. Psychotherapy 4:407-418, 1950. 9. Chessick, R. D.: The Problem of Time in Philosophy, Neurophysiology, and Psychiatry , J. Nerv. & Ment. Dis. 123:14-17, 1956. 10. Cocteau, J.: Opium , New York, Grove Press, 1958. 11. Cutler, R.: Personal communication to the author. 12. Daly, D.: Ictal Affect , Am. J. Psychiat. 115:97-108, 1958. 13. Daniels, G.: Turning Points in the Analysis of Cases of Alcoholism , Psychoanalyt. Quart. 2:123-130, 1933. 14. DeQuincey, T.: Confessions of an English Opium Eater , New York, Chanticleer Press, 1950. 15. Fenichel, O.: The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis , New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1945. 16. Fort, J.: Heroin Addiction Among Young Men , Psychiatry 17:251-259, 1954. 17. Freud, S.: Female Sexuality (1931) , in Collected Papers , Vol. 5, London, Hogarth Press, 1956. 18. Glover, E.: On the Early Development of Mind , New York, International Universities Press, 1956. 19. Hollander, L.: Treatment of the Narcotic Addict , Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 28:714-749, 1958. 20. Jones, E.: The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud , New York, Basic Books, Inc., 1953. 21. Kolb, L.: Pleasure and Deterioration from Narcotic Addiction , Ment. Hyg. 9:699-724, 1925. 22. Lewin, B.: The Psychoanalysis of Elation , New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1950. 23. Lipshutz, D.: Transference in Borderline Cases , Psychoanalyt. Rev. 42:195-200, 1945. 24. Mannheim, J.: Notes on a Case of Drug Addiction , Internat. J. Psycho-Analysis 36:166-173, 1955. 25. Maurer, D.: The Argot of the Underworld Narcotic Addict , Am. Speech 11:116-127, 1936 26. 13:179-192, 1938. 27. Rado, S.: The Psychic Effect of Intoxicants , Internat. J. Psychoanalysis 7:396-413, 1926. 28. Rado, S.: The Psychoanalysis of Pharmacothymia , Psychiat. Quart. 2:1-23, 1933. 29. Savitt, R.: Extramural Psychoanalytic Therapy of a Case of Narcotic Addiction , J. Am. Psychoanalyt. A. 2:494-502, 1954. 30. Schur, M.: Comments on the Metapsychology of Somatization , Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 10:119-164, 1955. 31. Simmel, E.: Alcoholism and Addiction , Psychoanalyt. Quart. 17:6-31, 1948. 32. Szasz, T.: The Role of the Counter-Phobic Mechanism in Addiction , J. Am. Psychoanalyt. A. 6:309-325, 1958. 33. Wikler, A.: Psychodynamic Study of a Patient During Experimental Re-Addiction to Morphine , Psychiat. Quart. 26:270-293, 1952. 34. Wikler, A., and Rasor, R.: Psychiatric Aspects of Drug Addiction , Am. J. Med. 14:566-570, 1953. 35. Wikler, A.: Narcotic Addiction , Current Therapy , Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1958, pp. 583-585.
TI - The Pharmacogenic Orgasm in the Drug Addict
JF - Archives of General Psychiatry
DO - 10.1001/archpsyc.1960.01710050095010
DA - 1960-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/american-medical-association/the-pharmacogenic-orgasm-in-the-drug-addict-1I0tOeqlh0
SP - 545
EP - 556
VL - 3
IS - 5
DP - DeepDyve
ER -