Question by Flower Player: what are some ways that people broke drug addictions historically?
I am doing a report but after tons and tons of research, I CANNOT FIND HISTORICAL DIAGNOSES FOR DRUGS, I am looking for ways that have been put out of practice, for example, one historical treatment for illness was “leeching” putting a leech on somebody, and letting them drink out all of the “bad blood”. Once again, I am looking for discontinued practices for breaking drug abuse.

Best answer:

Answer by Angela
Your search may have been futile, because for a long time, what we know as “drug addiction” wasn’t recognized as a mental or social problem.

Some other treatments you may want to look into though, is shock treatment. Also, I see in my psychology text book, that in ancient Rome, addiction (but also a number of other problems were treated by soaking the “patient” in a hot bath and cooling them off rapidly.

Answer by M
As the person above stated, drug addiction was not a recognized disease for a long time and therefore standardized treatment did not exist. Instead it was viewed as a lack of willpower. You will find more answers if you search for treatment of alcoholism. Lobotomy and hospitalization in an insane asylum were common “treatments”.

check out this article for more info on that: http://www.health.am/psy/more/methods-of-treatment-of-alcoholism/