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Drugs and the Brain (Scientific American Library)
Drugs and the Brain - Scientific American Library Author:Solomon H. Snyder Scientists who seek understanding of the brain are learning much from drugs that people use for good or ill, to alter brain function. These drugs are administered or taken to ease pain, raise or depress the spirit, stimulate or dull the intellect, conjure visions, distort sensations, induce paranoia, and restore sanity. Some have been known for ... more »millennia, others are the fruit of recent pharmacological research. Employed in studies of the brain they are helping to establish the linkages between the physiology of the brain and its manifestations in thought, mood, feeling, and personality.
"Drugs and the Brain" describes the growth of knowledge about the effects of these drugs on the brain and shows how this knowledge has advanced our understanding of brain processes. The author, a pioneer in psychopharmacological research, tells the compelling story of the intimate relationship between two of the most important developments in twentieth-century science and medicine: the creation of therapeutic drugs that have radically changed the way in which mental disturbances are conceptualized and treated and the remarkable growth in our understanding of the brain.
Solomon Snyder introduces the reader to the essential biochemical action of psychoactive drugs and illustrates the reciprocal development of our understanding of the brain by considering the case of atropine, acetylcholine, and Alzheimer's disease. He then discusses the history of opiate use and the research crucial to our present knowledge of opiates, showing what we have learned about pain and about pleasure as a consequence of that research. After exploring how drugs used to treat schizophrenia, mood disorders, and anxiety act in the brain, Dr. Snyder examines the research that has been done on LSD and other psychedelic drugs. He concludes by tying together pharmacology's contributions to psychiatry and to neuroscience and by offering suggestions concerning new techniques for drug development in the future.« less