How did Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s opium dependence affect his health and writing?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s dependence on opium had a profound and detrimental impact on both his physical health and his creative output.

Impact on Health
Coleridge’s long-term reliance on the drug contributed to a general deterioration of his health. His struggle with addiction persisted for many years, eventually leading him to seek treatment in 1816 from James Gillman, a surgeon in Highgate. Ultimately, his death in 1834 was caused by heart failure, which was compounded by a lung disorder that may have been a direct result of his chronic opium use.12

Impact on Writing
The addiction exacerbated Coleridge’s personal unhappiness and sense of dejection, which frequently permeated his work. During periods of heavy dependence, he often found himself unable to produce extended literary works, and his writing from those times was frequently characterized by self-dramatization and melancholy. In his poem "Dejection: An Ode," he explicitly addressed his fears that his poetic powers were waning. It was only later, after finding a sense of intellectual and emotional stability through his commitment to the Anglican Church, that he regained the ability to produce major works such as Biographia Literaria.132