Drugs and the Mind
Author: Robert S. De Ropp
Publisher:
Published: 2013-10
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781258855635
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is a new release of the original 1957 edition.
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Mind-Altering Drugs
Author: Mitch Earleywine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2005-04-14
Total Pages: 413
ISBN-13: 0195347439
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAt least one of every three Americans has used an illicit drug. Drugs attract considerable attention in science, legislation, and the media. Nonetheless, many people develop attitudes about drugs and drug users based on limited information. Researchers often find themselves divided into camps based on the drug they study most often, which limits their ability to benefit from important work done on other drugs. As a result, government policies form without a complete understanding of the intoxication experience. What is the nature of intoxication? At first, this question appears to be simple and straightforward, but upon closer inspection, the dichotomous distinctions between everyday awareness and its alternatives grow fuzzy. An in-depth examination of the subjective effects of drugs and the pursuit of altered states soon leads to age-old questions about free will, heredity, environment, and consciousness. Mind-Altering Drugs is the first book to bring together chapters from leading researchers that present diverse, empirically based insights into the subjective experiences of drugs a nd their links to addictive potential. By avoiding simple depictions of psychoactive chemicals and the people who use them, these recognized experts explain how modern research in many fields reveals a complex interaction between people, situations, and substances. Their work demonstrates that only a multitude of approaches can show the nuances of subjective experience, and that each substance may create a different effect with every administration in each user. Simple references to physiological underpinnings or positive reinforcement fail to explain the diverse responses to drugs. However, research has progressed to reveal broad, repeatable evidence that the subjective effects of substances play an important role in our understanding of drug abuse, and so should inform our decisions about policy. This thorough and accessible review of the subjective effects of drugs and the dominant theories behind those effects will provide a wealth of information about the experience of intoxication for lay readers, and a road map to studies in other disciples for student and professional researchers.
Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness
Author: Anne Harrington
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2019-04-16
Total Pages: 477
ISBN-13: 1324001976
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“Superb… a nuanced account of biological psychiatry.” —Richard J. McNally In Mind Fixers, “the preeminent historian of neuroscience” (Science magazine) Anne Harrington explores psychiatry’s repeatedly frustrated efforts to understand mental disorder. She shows that psychiatry’s waxing and waning theories have been shaped not just by developments in the clinic and lab, but also by a surprising range of social factors. Mind Fixers recounts the past and present struggle to make mental illness a biological problem in order to lay the groundwork for creating a better future.
Blaming the Brain
Author: Elliot Valenstein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2002-02
Total Pages: 312
ISBN-13: 0743237870
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn Blaming the Brain Elliott Valenstein exposes the many weaknesses inherent in the scientific arguments supporting the widely accepted theory that biochemical imbalances are the main cause of mental illness. He lays bare the commercial motives of drug companies and their huge stake in expanding their markets. This provocative book will force patients, practitioners, and prescribers alike to rethink the causes of mental illness and the methods by which we treat it.
The Chemistry of Mind-altering Drugs
Author: Daniel M. Perrine
Publisher:
Published: 1996
Total Pages: 504
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis fascinating book presents a scientifically objective, and thoroughly documented exposition of the pharmacological and psychological effects of nearly every known substance that affects human consciousness, from alcohol to Zopiclone. It also features first-hand accounts and descriptions of the social, cultural, and religious milieus in which many psychotropic plants are used, and discusses historical allusions to many literary and scientific figures who used or wrote of mind-altering drugs, including Freud, Dickens, Yeats, and Huxley. Intended for a wide audience of general readers seeking unbiased information, the book gives an accessible explanation of drug-receptor interaction and organic chemical structures, as well as descriptions of the discovery, isolation, and syntheses of the chemical substances responsible for drug activity. Written by an experienced chemist, the book nevertheless keeps technical information to a minimum.
Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior
Author: John Brick
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-06-26
Total Pages: 234
ISBN-13: 1135122180
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExplore the brain and discover the clinical and pharmacological issues surrounding drug abuse and dependence. The authors, research scientists with years of experience in alcohol and drug studies, provide definitions, historic discoveries about the nervous system, and original, eye-catching illustrations to discuss the brain/behavior relationship, basic neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and the mechanistic actions of mood-altering drugs. You will learn about: • how psychoactive drugs affect cognition, behavior, and emotion • the brain/behavior relationship • the specific effects of major addictive and psychoactive drug groups • new definitions and thinking about abuse and dependence • the medical and forensic consequences of drugs use Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior uses a balance of instruction, illustrations, and tables and formulas that will give you a broad, lasting introduction to this intriguing subject. Whether you're a nurse, chemical dependency counselor, psychologist, or clinician, this book will be a quick reference guide long after the first reading.
Drugs, Addiction, and the Brain
Author: George F. Koob
Publisher: Academic Press
Published: 2014-07-12
Total Pages: 351
ISBN-13: 0123869595
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDrugs, Addiction, and the Brain explores the molecular, cellular, and neurocircuitry systems in the brain that are responsible for drug addiction. Common neurobiological elements are emphasized that provide novel insights into how the brain mediates the acute rewarding effects of drugs of abuse and how it changes during the transition from initial drug use to compulsive drug use and addiction. The book provides a detailed overview of the pathophysiology of the disease. The information provided will be useful for neuroscientists in the field of addiction, drug abuse treatment providers, and undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in learning the diverse effects of drugs of abuse on the brain. - Full-color circuitry diagrams of brain regions implicated in each stage of the addiction cycle - Actual data figures from original sources illustrating key concepts and findings - Introduction to basic neuropharmacology terms and concepts - Introduction to numerous animal models used to study diverse aspects of drug use. - Thorough review of extant work on the neurobiology of addiction
Blue Dreams
Author: Lauren Slater
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2018-02-20
Total Pages: 361
ISBN-13: 0316370584
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe explosive story of the discovery and development of psychiatric medications, as well as the science and the people behind their invention, told by a riveting writer and psychologist who shares her own experience with the highs and lows of psychiatric drugs. Although one in five Americans now takes at least one psychotropic drug, the fact remains that nearly seventy years after doctors first began prescribing them, not even their creators understand exactly how or why these drugs work -- or don't work -- on what ails our brains. Lauren Slater's revelatory account charts psychiatry's journey from its earliest drugs, Thorazine and lithium, up through Prozac and other major antidepressants of the present. Blue Dreams also chronicles experimental treatments involving Ecstasy, magic mushrooms, the most cutting-edge memory drugs, placebos, and even neural implants. In her thorough analysis of each treatment, Slater asks three fundamental questions: how was the drug born, how does it work (or fail to work), and what does it reveal about the ailments it is meant to treat? Fearlessly weaving her own intimate experiences into comprehensive and wide-ranging research, Slater narrates a personal history of psychiatry itself. In the process, her powerful and groundbreaking exploration casts modern psychiatry's ubiquitous wonder drugs in a new light, revealing their ability to heal us or hurt us, and proving an indispensable resource not only for those with a psychotropic prescription but for anyone who hopes to understand the limits of what we know about the human brain and the possibilities for future treatments.
Mind Over Meds
Author: Andrew Weil
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
Published: 2017-04-25
Total Pages: 261
ISBN-13: 0316352985
DOWNLOAD EBOOKToo many Americans are taking too many drugs -- and it's costing us our health, happiness, and lives. Prescription drug use in America has increased tenfold in the past 50 years, and over-the-counter drug use has risen just as dramatically. In addition to the dozens of medications we take to treat serious illnesses, we take drugs to help us sleep, to keep us awake, to keep our noses from running, our backs from aching, and our minds from racing. Name a symptom, there's a pill to suppress it. Modern drugs can be miraculously life-saving, and many illnesses demand their use. But what happens when our reliance on powerful pharmaceuticals blinds us to their risks? Painful side effects and dependency are common, and adverse drug reactions are America's fourth leading cause of death. In Mind over Meds, bestselling author Dr. Andrew Weil alerts readers to the problem of overmedication, and outlines when medicine is necessary, and when it is not. Dr. Weil examines how we came to be so drastically overmedicated, presents science that proves drugs aren't always the best option, and provides reliable integrative medicine approaches to treating common ailments like high blood pressure, allergies, depression, and even the common cold. With case histories, healthy alternative treatments, and input from other leading physicians, Mind over Meds is the go-to resource for anyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired.
How to Change Your Mind
Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2019-05-14
Total Pages: 481
ISBN-13: 0735224153
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNow on Netflix as a 4-part documentary series! “Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured.” —New York Times A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.
