History of Euphoria

<p>Very few people have not at some point in their lives believed themselves or their loved ones to be reasonably healthy when in reality sickness was encroaching or never went away. Health has been deceiving us for thousands of years but rarely have we entirely dispensed with it as a concept. This book sets out to establish why and how that might be. The first of its kind this <i>longue durée</i> historical study explores some of the ways in which people in western societies and cultures have come to believe that they or other people have perceived or misperceived health well-being and euphoria—a word which before the twentieth century usually named the experience of health. This book draws from a number of areas of historical research including the histories of convalescence addiction madness and Sigmund Freud’s interest in <i>Euphorie</i> in his pre-psychoanalytical period.</p>