Dipsomania is a historical term describing a medical condition involving an uncontrollable craving for alcohol or other drugs.[1] In the 19th century, the term dipsomania was used to refer to a variety of alcohol-related problems, most of which are known today as alcohol use disorder. Dipsomania is occasionally still used to describe a particular condition of periodic, compulsive bouts of alcohol intake. The idea of dipsomania is important for its historical role in promoting a disease theory of chronic drunkenness. The word comes from Greek dipso- (from Greek: δίψα 'thirst') and mania (Greek: μανία 'madness, frenzy, compulsion etc.').
It is mentioned in the World Health Organization ICD-10 classification as an alternative description for Alcohol Dependence Syndrome, episodic use F10.26.
- ^ Black, Henry Campbell (1891). A Dictionary of Law: Containing Definitions of the Terms and Phrases of American and English Jurisprudence, Ancient and Modern; Including the Principal Terms of International, Constitutional, and Commercial Law; with a Collection of Legal Maxims and Numerous Select Titles from the Civil Law and Other Foreign Systems. West Publishing Company.