Samuel Johnson's Health - Medical History - Fear of Madness

Fear of Madness

In 1734, Johnson feared that he was suffering from a disease that would lead to him being deemed mad. He wrote, in Latin, a letter asking Samuel Swynfen, his godfather, about his health. Swynfen wrote back "from the symptoms therein described, he could think nothing better of his disorder, than it had a tendency to insanity; and without great care might possibly terminate in the deprivation of his rational faculties." This Swynfen's response only caused Johnson to fear becoming insane even more. However, Swynfen soon after showed Johnson's letter to others because of its "extraordinary acuteness, research, and eloquence", and this act was so upsetting to Johnson that he could never forgive Swynfen.

Boswell claimed that Johnson "felt himself overwhelmed with an horrible melancholia, with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience; and with a dejection, gloom, and despair, which made existence misery". However, Boswell blamed the common understanding of what was "sane" for Johnson's worries over being insane.

Johnson was constantly afraid of losing his sanity, but he kept that anxiety to himself throughout his life. There were, however, occasional outbursts that worried his friends. In June 1766, Johnson was on his knees before John Delap, a clergyman, "beseeching God to continue to him the use of his understanding" in a "wild" manner that provoked Johnson's friend, Henry Thrale to "involuntarily up one hand to shut his mouth". The Thrales were afraid for his mental health, and took Johnson into their home in Streatham for a few months, in the hope that might aid his recovery. Thrale's experience is similar to many other accounts; James Anderson reported Adam Smith as telling him:

I have seen that creature bolt up in the midst of a mixed company; and, without any previous notice, fall upon his knees behind a chair, repeat the Lord's Prayer and then resume his seat at table. He has played this freak over and over, perhaps five or six times in the course of an evening. It is not hypocrisy, but madness.

Although this claim is similar to what the Thrales reported, Boswell wrote: "There is, I am convinced, great exaggeration in this, not probably on Smith's part, who was one of the most truthful of men, but on his reporter's."

Early on, when Johnson was unable to pay off his debts, he began to work with professional writers and identified his own situation with theirs. During this time, Johnson witnessed Christopher Smart's decline into "penury and the madhouse", and feared that he might share the same fate. In joking about Christopher Smart's madness, his writing for the Universal Visiter, and his own contributions, Johnson claimed: "for poor Smart, while he was mad, not then knowing the terms on which he was engaged to write ... I hoped his wits would return to him. Mine returned to me, and I wrote in 'the Universal Visitor' no longer". The truth was that Johnson wrote for the Universal Visiter as an "act of charity" to the ailing Smart.

Hester Thrale Piozzi, in her British Synonymy Book 2, did not joke about Johnson's possible madness, and claimed, in a discussion on Smart's mental state, that Johnson was her "friend who feared an apple should intoxicate him". She made it clear who she was referring to when she wrote in Thraliana that "I don't believe the King has ever been much worse than poor Dr Johnson was, when he fancied that eating an Apple would make him drunk." To Hester Thrale, what separated Johnson from others who were placed in asylums for madness—like Christopher Smart—was his ability to keep his concerns and emotions to himself. However, Johnson was receiving a treatment of sorts, and it is possible that it involved a set of fetters and padlock. John Wiltshire later determined that these instruments were not symbolic, but actually used in private treatment.

Read more about this topic:  Samuel Johnson's Health, Medical History

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