The Dream Drugstore

Chemically Altered States of Consciousness

J. Allan Hobson

$75

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

MIT Press
23 August 2002

Conscious & unconscious; Neurology & clinical neurophysiology

Series: A Bradford Book

"An investigation into the brain's chemistry and the mechanisms of chemically altered states of consciousness.

In this book, J. Allan Hobson offers a new understanding of altered states of consciousness based on knowledge of how our brain chemistry is balanced when we are awake and how that balance shifts when we fall asleep and dream. He draws on recent research that enables us to explain how psychedelic drugs work to disturb that balance and how similar imbalances may cause depression and schizophrenia. He also draws on work that expands our understanding of how certain drugs can correct imbalances and restore the brain's natural equilibrium.

Hobson explains the chemical balance concept in terms of what we know about the regulation of normal states of consciousness over the course of the day by brain chemicals called neuromodulators. He presents striking confirmation of the principle that every drug that has transformative effects on consciousness interacts with the brain's own consciousness-altering chemicals. In the section called ""The Medical Drugstore,"" Hobson describes drugs used to counteract anxiety and insomnia, to raise and lower mood, and to eliminate or diminish the hallucinations and delusions of schizophrenia. He discusses the risks involved in their administration, including the possibility of new disorders caused by indiscriminate long-term use. In ""The Recreational Drugstore,"" Hobson discusses psychedelic drugs, narcotic analgesia, and natural drugs. He also considers the distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate drug use. In the concluding ""Psychological Drugstore,"" he discusses the mind as an agent, not just the mediator, of change, and corrects many erroneous assumptions and practices that hinder the progress of psychoanalysis."

By: J. Allan Hobson
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 476g
ISBN: 9780262582209
ISBN 10: 0262582201
Series: A Bradford Book
Pages: 349
Publication Date: 23 August 2002
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

J. Allan Hobson is Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of The Dreaming Brain- How the Brain Creates Both the Sense and The Nonsense of Dreams, Dreaming as Delirium- How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind (MIT Press,1999), The Dream Drugstore- Chemically Altered States of Consciousness (MIT Press, 1999, 2001), and other books.

Reviews for The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness

J. Allan Hobson, a world leader in sleep and dream research, elegantly links the mechanisms of sleep and dreams with the psychopharmocology of memory. Interspersing personal experience with the latest scientific information, 'The Dream Drugstore' will delight and inform all readers regardless of their scientific or medical background. --Carl Salzman, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School This book is not only the best modern scientifically sound treatment of dreams, their origin and meaning, but also an entertaining guided tour of contemporary psychiatry. --Lester Grinspoon, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Harvard Medical School In this extraordinary volume, Hobson links the mental changes that are common to dreaming, psychosis, and the actions of psychedelic drugs. He accomplishes this creative integration in a lucid, lively style accessible and of interest to both the intelligent lay reader and professional researcher. --Solomon H. Snyder, Director, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University This is your brain. This is your brain on its own drugs. Professor Hobson has written a lucid, novel, and authoritative guide to the neurobiology of altered states of consciousness. --David Spiegel, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine This well-written, enjoyable, information-packed culmination of Dr. Hobson's lifetime of scientifically based work in this fascinating area will be of intense interest and value to anyone interested in altered states of consciousness--whether induced by or associated with dreaming, psychoses, hallucinations, alien abductions, prescription medications or recreational drug use. It expands and clarifies our concepts of altered states of consciousness and neurodynamic psychology. --Mark W. Mahowald, Director, Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, and Professor of Neurology, University of Minnesota Medical School