Sigmund Freud’s Cocaine Prescription
Before founding psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud was an enthusiastic promoter—and frequent user—of cocaine. He called it a “wonder drug,” prescribing the stimulant for everything from depression to digestive issues. Freud himself snorted daily doses to combat migraine and melancholy, meticulously recording the euphoric rush and “boundless self-confidence” it inspired.
Inevitably, patients developed addictions and terrifying side effects, including hallucinations Freud brushed off as “minor.” When a colleague’s fiancée died from cocaine-related complications, Freud quietly dialed back his endorsements—but not his own habit. Only later did he acknowledge its dangers, shifting focus to dream analysis instead of dopamine spikes. The episode shows even history’s greatest mind-mappers could lose the plot when the white powder was literally on the table.
