Intoxication

The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances

Ronald K. Siegel (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

384 Seiten

2005 | New Edition
Park Street Press,U.S. (Verlag)
978-1-59477-069-2 (ISBN)

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A scientific and cultural exploration of the pursuit of altered states of consciousness in both humans and animals

• Contains myriad studies and examples from the author's 20 years of research

• By the foremost authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use

History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep, and sex. This "fourth drive," says psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel, is a natural part of our biology, creating the irrepressible demand for intoxicating substances.

In Intoxication Siegel draws upon his 20 years of groundbreaking research to provide countless examples of the intoxication urge in humans, animals, and even insects. The detailed observations of his so-called psychonauts--study participants trained to explicitly describe their drug experiences--as well as numerous studies with animals have helped him to identify the behavior patterns induced by different intoxicants. Presenting his conclusions on the biological as well as cultural reasons for the pursuit of intoxication and showing that personality and guidance often define the outcome of a drug experience, Siegel offers a broad understanding of the intoxication phenomenon as well as recommendations for curbing the negative aspects of drug use in Western culture by designing safe intoxicants.

Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D., is a psychopharmacologist on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine and is a leading authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use. The author of Fire in the Brain and Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia, his research has also appeared in Psychology Today, Scientific American, and Omni as well as the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He lives in Los Angeles.

Preface
Prologue
Introduction

Part I: The Drugs
1 War in Eden
Origins of Plant Drugs
2 A Trip of Goats
Discovery of Poisons and
Intoxicants
3 Falling Birds and Flying Cats
Accidents with Hallucinogens
4 A Shrewdness of Apes
Learning to Use Tobacco and
Other Drugs
5 Ark on the Rocks
Alcohol as the Universal Intoxicant
6 Milk of Paradise
Romance and Addiction with
Opium
7 Emerald Laughter
Hashish and Marijuana
8 Forced March
Coca and Cocaine
9 A Bevy of Beasts
Drugs in the Social Group

Part II: The Drive
10 The Fourth Drive
Motivation for Intoxication
11 Fire in the Brain
Mental Marvels, Murder, and
Mechanisms of Control
12 Star-Spangled Powders
Drugs and the American Way
13 War on Drugs
Enduring Supplies and Demands
14 Waking Dreams
Drugs in the Future

Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	5.5.2005
Verlagsort	Rochester
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	388 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sucht / Drogen
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	1-59477-069-7 / 1594770697
ISBN-13	978-1-59477-069-2 / 9781594770692
Zustand	Neuware