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From Orgasms to Overdoses: How Marie Nyswander Went from Treating ‘Sexual Frigidity’ to Heroin Addiction
From Orgasms to Overdoses: How Marie Nyswander Went from Treating ‘Sexual Frigidity’ to Heroin Addiction

From Orgasms to Overdoses: How Marie Nyswander Went from Treating ‘Sexual Frigidity’ to Heroin Addiction

In the early 1950s Marie Nyswander was ready to move on from addiction. She set up a private practice and specialized in treating women afflicted with what she would call one of the “gravest problems of our time”: sexual frigidity. She and her adoring husband were living the good life, hanging out with rich art collectors and members of New York City’s literary scene. But when Nyswander started getting phone calls for help, she got pulled in a very different direction….

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Marie Nyswander Changed the Landscape of Addiction. Here’s How Her Story Begins.
Marie Nyswander Changed the Landscape of Addiction. Here’s How Her Story Begins.

Marie Nyswander Changed the Landscape of Addiction. Here’s How Her Story Begins.

In 1946, Marie Nyswander, a recent medical school graduate, joined the U.S. Public Health Service looking for adventure abroad. Instead, they sent her to Lexington, Kentucky’s Narcotic Farm, a prison and rehabilitation facility for people with drug addiction, where therapies included milking cows and basket-making. It was at Lexington that Marie encountered addiction for the first time, and what she saw there disturbed her—and reset her life’s course. [New to the Lost Women of Science? Listen to Episode One of…

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