Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs: Medicinal Herbs for Treating Psychological and Neurological Problems [Paperback]

Marcello Spinella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2005

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
  
• hallucinogens
  

With 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

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A valuable reference text for herbalists, physicians, researchers, policy makers, and all other professionals with an interest in this area." -- Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD, FRCP, Professor of Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom

"This well-written book provides an informative overview of the topic." -- David A. Baron, DO, MSEd, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789018586
• ISBN-13: 978-0789018588
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,741,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marcello Spinella got his bachelors degree in psychology from Fairlegh Dickinson University and his Ph.D. in neuropsychology from the City University of New York. He is an associate professor of psychology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, where he has taught since 1999. His research interests include mindfulness, Buddhist psychology, neuropsychology, prefrontal systems, self-regulation, executive functions, neuroeconomics, altruism, and positive psychology.

His webpages are:

http://www.snurl.com/marcello

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yoga-Nine-Vipassana/210058179009727

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars inaccurate, October 19, 2006

By 

clancy cavnar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concise Handbook of Psychoactive Herbs: Medicinal Herbs for Treating Psychological and Neurological Problems (Paperback)

The chapter on yage (ayahuasca) is inaccurate, confusing smokable dmt with ayahuasca. Some research would have revealed the extensive healing claims for the tea ayahuasca, which sometimes contains negligible amounts of dmt yet produces effects. Thousands of years of use and currently thousands of indigenous and western users have produced a large volume of literature on this substance, a brief "google" search would have revealed many sources Dr. Spinella could have used to gain a more accurate understanding of yage than the shallow and inaccurate treatment he gave in his book. The effects of the tea yage do not wear off in 15 minutes, it lasts 1-2 hours; smokable dmt wears off in 15 minutes. I did not read the rest of the book, but this level of scholarship did not inspire me to. I hate to see misinformation being given to professionals, this chapter should be revised.