drapetomania

D2R1A1P3E1T1O1M3A1N1I1A1

noun

The desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

noundrapetomania (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountableThe desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness.

    Forbidding alcohol, eliminating visits to neighbors at night, and withholding adequate food, shelter, and clothing also were measures taken to prevent drapetomania.

    2008, Frederick T. Leong, Encyclopedia of Counseling - Volume 2, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    To prevent the full-blown development of drapetomania, exhibited by the actual running away of the slave, whipping is recommended as medical therapy; in a revealing allusion to its historical origins, the treatment is called "whipping the devil out of them."

    1987, Thomas Stephen Szasz, Insanity: The Idea and Its Consequences, →ISBN, page 307

    Over the years, psychiatrists have quite properly rejected many other "disorders" that reflected earlier cultural prejudices, such as drapetomania, lack of vaginal orgasm, childhood masturbation disorder, masochism, and nymphomania (Wakefield, 1992).

    1996, Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, Psychology, →ISBN, page 560

    Cartwright opined that following proper medical advice prevented drapetomania and its symptom (running away): The recommended cure was to keep slaves in their "natural" position of submission while providing for their needs, along with whipping at the onset of the disorder.

    2006, Yo Jackson, Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, →ISBN, page 158
  2. dateduncountableAn overwhelming urge to run away (from home, a bad situation, responsibility, etc.).

    Mark declined and moved into the dark cavern. Strobes and smoke created curtains of imminent light. "You viced up Marky?" said Nick. Faking something close to drapetomania, ...

    1997, Mark Waugh, Come
    3 more examples

    One of these is a supposed form of mental disease, termed by him "Drapetomania, which, like a malady that cats are liable to, manifests itself by an irrestrainable propensity to run away."

    1857, The London Lancet

    I thought I was a hypochondriac because my friends said that I was showing unnecessary concern about my health. Thanks to Dr. Cartwright I now know that I am a diseased man. I suffer from the acute stages of a chronic disease: drapetomania. I have the obsessive desire to run toward freedom. You have the right to know that a diseased man is near you because, and I say this carefully, drapetomania is contagious, and I am glad about it. As a drapetomaniac, I belong at a Freedom Fund Banquet.

    1989, David Pilgrim, Race relations "above the veil": speeches, essays, and other writings

    I still flee from my home to chase dreams. Sometimes I manage to elude capture and sometimes I do not. Is that Drapetomania? Is that Squircular? What do you call it? No results found for squircle. In 2005, for the first time, I wrote but never publicized my personal experience with Drapetomania (or Squircular, if you prefer) in an essalogue with a seven syllable title: An Actor's Tale In the Crazy House with Christ!

    2010, Summer Hill Seven (Raymond Abdul-Alim Ákbar), Squircular!: An Actor's Tale, →ISBN, page 87

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekδραπέτης“runaway slave”
  2. Englishdrapetomania

Coined in 1851 by Samuel A. Cartwright as a name for a supposed mental illness that caused black slaves to flee captivity. Ancient Greek δραπέτης (drapétēs, “runaway slave”) + μανία (manía, “madness”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 漫游癖, 漂泊症
  • 漫游癖 (mànyóupǐ)desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness
  • 漂泊症 (piāobózhèng)desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness
Cite this entry
APA

drapetomania. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drapetomania

MLA

“drapetomania.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drapetomania. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drapetomania,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drapetomania.

Source: drapetomania on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.