whatever else they may be holding in their vesicles. In the past, both have
been widely prescribed as antidepressants.
Freud and many of his contemporaries thought that cocaine was a
miracle drug that alleviated depression, improved the personality, and stim-
ulated the creative process. Their writings about its marvels might embar-
rass Timothy Leary. Sherlock Holmes took cocaine to improve his
detection skills, and many Victorian writers used it as well. Robert Lewis
Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde might be considered the “Lucy in the
Sky with Diamonds” of its day.
Until about 1915 you could buy cocaine almost anywhere. At soda foun-
tains there was coca in the cola and countless other concoctions designed to
pep people up and make them happy. Cocaine was considered a respectable,
higher class alternative to demon rum. You could also buy it mixed with alco-
hol and morphine as nerve tonic. Cocaine was wonderful stuff—until it
began to wear off, leaving a synthetic melancholia caused by drug-induced
depletion of transmitter substances, and sometimes tactile hallucinations of
worms crawling under the skin. A typical remedy was more cocaine.
Amphetamine works similarly to cocaine, but it has a bit less effect on
the central nervous system and more on neuromuscular synapses, making
it more physically stimulating. Caffeine operates similarly, with even more
muscular involvement. Until the early 1960s the antidepressant of choice
was amphetamine mixed with phenobarbital to take off the physical edge.
Phenobarbital and alcohol release GABA, which serves as an
inhibitory function throughout the brain. After the initial dumping of
dopamine, which feels like stimulation, GABA slows things down, and
generally decreases activity in the central nervous system starting with the
newer, higher level thinking equipment. In one fell swoop it eases the pain
of guilt and rumination, and if you take enough, it will put you to sleep.
Alcohol feels like the perfect short-term antidepressant. It works well
until the middle of the night, when it disturbs sleeping patterns, and
the next morning, when all the GABA from the night before stimulates the
release of glutamate, yet another transmitter substance that leads to feelings
of pain and irritability. A common treatment is more alcohol.
Alcohol, cocaine, amphetamine, and phenobarbital are all lousy
antidepressants. They make people feel better in the short run, but over a
longer term they actually create some of the same chemical depletions
that may cause depression in the first place.
158 ❧Explosions into Sadness