She comes across as a hysterical lady. A few drops of laudanum would help.

I'd take that over the ever so fashionable mid-century lobotomy.

The scale of the phenomenon is very much a modern thing

Maybe in absolute terms, but only because there are so many more people now. You should read[1] about the way triangular trade in colonial America led to very low prices for rum creating and epidemic of alcoholism so bad it the social structure of the time and ultimately led to the rise of the Temperance movement and prohibition.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK216414/