Addiction is a familiar feature of contemporary society. Not only do we have access to numerous substances linked to dependency, but we apply the term 'addiction' to an increasing array of other activities: shopping, eating, gambling and so forth. However, there remains deep uncertainty as to what addiction is, how it develops and how it should be tackled. Most strikingly, the question of whether addiction is a kind of disease remains unresolved - something which has significant implications for how addiction and addicts are viewed.


Dr Nicholls explores some of the ways in which thinking about addiction developed from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. He discusses how doctors, clerics and social commentators first began to work through the problem, moving uneasily between moral condemnation and quasi-clinical diagnosis. In following the evolution of these ideas, he considers in particular how changing approaches to addiction (which, until the 20th century, most often meant habitual drinking) reflected wider social and cultural developments.

This is the first in a series of four 'Mondays at One' lectures, From Gin Lane to the Band of Hope.

Support the Show.