Find out how plant-derived drugs react with your brain to produce either healing or harmful results!The Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs will give you a better understanding of herbal products that have psychological effects. The book explores how they work, how effective they are, and what is known about their safety. Geared towards non-specialist professionals and curious individuals, this guide shows how herbal preparations can affect the brain, mental state, and behavior of a user and includes treatment methods, tables, illustrations, a glossary, and a bibliography.The Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs contains chapters on several types of psychoactive herbs, including: stimulants cognition-enhancers sedatives painkillers hallucinogensWith the Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs, you'll examine the effects of psychoactive drugs on the nervous system--both positive and negative. Each chapter discusses a type of herbal medicine, its action on the brain and other systems of the body, side effects, and the potential for addiction. The book closely examines possible drug interactions with prescription medications and emphasizes the caution you need to take when using herbal health products.In the Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs you will learn about the psychoactive actions of such medicinal plants as: coffee tobacco cannabis ginseng chamomile cocoa opium poppy peyote gingko biloba

Find out how plant-derived drugs react with your brain to produce either healing or harmful results The Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs will give you a better understanding of herbal products that have psychological effects. The book explores how they work, how effective they are, and what is known about their safety. Geared towards non-specialist professionals and curious individuals, this guide shows how herbal preparations can affect the brain, mental state, and behavior of a user and includes treatment methods, tables, illustrations, a glossary, and a bibliography.The Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs contains chapters on several types of psychoactive herbs, including: stimulants cognition-enhancers sedatives painkillers hallucinogensWith the Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs, you'll examine the effects of psychoactive drugs on the nervous system--both positive and negative. Each chapter discusses a type of herbal medicine, its action on the brain and other systems of the body, side effects, and the potential for addiction. The book closely examines possible drug interactions with prescription medications and emphasizes the caution you need to take when using herbal health products.In the Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs you will learn about the psychoactive actions of such medicinal plants as: coffee tobacco cannabis ginseng chamomile cocoa opium poppy peyote gingko biloba

A compilation of current scientific knowledge about psychoactive herbal drugs. Virtually all cultures consume drugs from psychoactive plants. Caffeine, for example, is probably the most common stimulant in the world, and many modern medicines, such as morphine and codeine, are derived from plant sources. In these cases, scientific research has revealed the composition of the plants and how they interact with the nervous system. There are also many herbal medications with reputed therapeutic value that have not yet gained acceptance into mainstream medicine, partly because there has not been enough research to support their usefulness. Instead they are regarded as "alternative medicines." This is an active research area, however, and many current studies are focusing on identifying the active components, pharmacological properties, physiological effects, and clinical efficacy of herbal medicines. This book compiles and integrates the most up-to-date information on the major psychoactive herbal medicines-that is, herbal medicines that alter mind, brain, and behavior. It focuses particularly on the effects on various areas of cognition, including attention, learning, and memory. The book covers all major classes of psychoactive drugs, including stimulants, cognitive enhancers, sedatives and anxiolytics, psychotherapeutic herbs, analgesics and anesthetic plants, hallucinogens, and cannabis.