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Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2003) 9: 62-68
© 2003 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Literary and biographical perspectives on substance use

Ed Day and Iain Smith

Ed Day is a specialist registrar in addiction psychiatry and an honorary lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Birmingham’s Addictive Behaviours Centre (120–122 Corporation Street, Birmingham B4 6SX, UK). He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Substance Misuse Faculty Executive Committee. His research interests include opiate detoxification and addiction in older adults. Iain Smith is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical senior lecturer at Glasgow University. He is the Training Programme Director for the West of Scotland General Adult Psychiatry Specialist Registrar Rotation and a member of the College’s Substance Misuse Faculty Executive Committee. His research interests include alcohol-related brain damage and the history of psychiatry.

This article attempts to give a flavour of the influence that psychoactive substances have had on many authors and the literary process. It explores the idea of the narrative as it is applied to addictive disorders and gives a range of examples of writing about different substances that might enhance the reader’s knowledge of current drug culture. The portrayal in literature of doctors with addictions is presented as a warning against the development of such problems in psychiatrists. The authors hope to have demonstrated that literature can be a valuable tool in understanding the experience of drug and alcohol use and addiction.




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