Analysis Of Dr. Theodore Dalrymple In Romancing Opiates

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Fear is an idea that almost everyone deals with in a lifetime. Terror is a shared emotion, but is provoked in different ways, such as spiders or clowns. A common fear is a fear of being alone physically or emotionally. Isolation in thought tends to grow this fear since original thoughts are difficult to explain if no one else has ever come to the same conclusions. Dr. Theodore Dalrymple in Romancing opiates deals with the same issue. Seeing life in a new perspective can lead to fear of self-validation, madness from being alone in one’s own ideas, and feeling ignored.
The first concern that develops when views are notably different from individuals is self-doubt. Dr. Dalrymple shows his uncertainty by stating his thoughts upon his evaluations …show more content…

Dr. Dalrymple prevented himself from going insane with the shared views of his colleagues. On the doctors he worked with, he states “Had I not been fortunate enough to work with three eminent and highly competent physicians…I think I might have broken down” (4). Dr. Dalrymple states that without the doctors who had similar views as he did, he would have lost his mind knowing he was the only one that shared his beliefs on addiction. Without his friends approaching to the same inferences, he would have experienced a mental breakdown within his workplace and fallen off the cliff of sanity. Dr. Dalrymple then decides to give his views on his choices to jump into madness or not. He states “…one is either sane in an insane world, or insane in a sane world” (4). Dr. Dalrymple displays that he can continue on with his views in while others view him as irrational or he denies his own views to be accepted by society but slowly lose his mind in the process. For him, accepting that the world would look at him as a maniac is equal to him going insane on the inside while the world views him as normal. Dr. Dalrymple knows either way he will lose sanity which leads to the madness growing from his different views when looking at his world around

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