Intoxicating minds - Ciaran Regan

Whether schizophrenia, depression or anxiety, drugs are commonly prescribed by psychiatrists to repair the fragmented mind, in essence serving to improve people's contribution to society. And from the social use of caffeine and alcohol, through the despair of heroin addiction, to the transcendental properties of LSD, drugs continue to play a pivotal role in shaping our culture. In this book, Ciaran Regan explores the links between drugs, brains and society through our new understanding of how the brain works. He argues that mechanisms of brain development are replayed as we store new information and that these are significantly influenced by exposure to drugs. As these storage mechanisms are known to be defective in conditions such as schizophrenia and depression and to be altered by exposure to drugs, his ideas provide a unique interface between pharmacology and brain function. Intoxicating Minds summarizes and develops these concepts. It is not a comprehensive primer on how drugs work and only touches on such peripheral issues as philosophy of mind and drug legislation. But it does present a startling new view of the reciprocal relationships between drugs, behaviour and society, a view that will be of interest to all those concerned with the modern world's continuing affair with mind-altering substances.