Psychoactive Drugs Alter Consciousness Essay

The article discusses research on the use of hallucinogens for medical therapies applicable to cancer, drug addiction, and psychological problems. Studies being undertaken at Johns Hopkins University are discussed. Johns Hopkins' research on hallucinogens includes assessment of the drug's psychospiritual effects among volunteers and its use in easing psychiatric and behavioral disorders in those so affected.

Throughout human history people have sought experiences that somehow transcend every day life. Some sort of wisdom that might progress their knowledge of self and of the world that they live in. For some reason they believed that the tangible world just could not be all there is to life. Some believed in a greater force that controlled them, some believed of invisible beings that influenced their lives, some of an actual other world that paralleled their own. Many of these people also believed that it was possible to catch a glimpse of these forces, beings, or worlds through a variety of means that propel individuals into altered states of consciousness. These techniques include

Let’s start with alcohol. Alcohol fits in the category of a depressant. Depressants are drugs, such as alcohol, that reduces neural activity and slow body functions. Many people confuse alcohol as a stimulant because it can cause people to act more hyper but low amounts of alcohol relaxes the drinker by slowing the nervous system activity. Larger amounts of

Stimulants can be used to speed up the central nervous system making a person fell more alert and aware of their surroundings. Depressants are the opposites and reduce the activity of the nervous system and produce a feeling of calm and/or “taking the edge off”. Hallucinogenics can be used to make an individual have hallucinations and have distortions in space and

“Psychoactive substances exert their their effects by modifying biochemical or physiological processes in the brain.” Psychedelics are taken out of context to be for recreational use only, when they can be taken to enhance spiritual journeys.

Drugs are chemicals they work in the brain by tapping into the brain's communication system and interfering with the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter. This fools receptors and allows the drugs to lock onto and activate the nerve cells. Although these drugs mimic brain chemicals, they don't activate nerve cells in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter, and they lead to abnormal messages being transmitted through the network.

A person may be suffering from depressive symptoms and use narcotics with the hope of acquiring some kind of relief. Depressive symptoms can develop as a result of using mind altering substances or as part of withdrawal symptoms when taking breaks from drugs. Low mood in withdrawal can be short and self-limiting, though sometimes it may lead to a very serious and prolonged depressive illness. A person will take drugs to escape or forget a problem in

This paper will illustrate several aspects of how drugs affect our lives. Addiction philosophies including the psychology and physiology will be explained in an attempt to describe how drugs affect our bodies both physically and mentally. Secondly, different drug categories types will be covered including: stimulants, depressants, narcotics, hallucinogens, and cannabis. Each of these categories has different addiction potentials and effect levels including withdrawal symptoms. Finally, the abuse of prescription drugs and their effects will be discussed.

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the different effects of different types of hallucinogenic drugs on the human brain. The paper will focus specifically on LSD, DMT, and Shrooms as they are amongst the strongest types of drugs in their category. The chemical structure of the different drugs and the way they alters chemicals in the brain will be examined as well. This topic is worth investigating because if you or anyone you know is interested in trying LSD, DMT, and Shrooms, it is important to know the effects they will have on your brain if you are unaware or don’t

When taking amphetamine, users start to get anxious, tense and if they take a heavy dose over a long period of time, they get linked to the mental illness, psychosis. Some drugs, like cannabis, cause the user to become paranoid. Cocaine can cause extreme alertness, impaired judgment, impulsiveness, and compulsively repeated acts. Even though, cocaine is used to enhance the sex drive, the effect that it has on the receptors in the brain reduces the ability to feel pleasure, which eventually causes the dependency on the drug. Another drug that has a powerful effect on the body is Ritalin. Ritalin causes severe headaches, anxiety, paranoia and delusions. These are some of the psychological effects that drugs cause to the human body.

Drugs have been around for a very long time. They are used for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include relaxation, socialization, curiosity, stress relief, or a form of escapism. However, most people don’t know the threats and danger that it can cause to the body. In this paper, we are going to examine the changes that happen inside the brain due to the effects of different drugs. We will look closely at how drugs such as hallucinogens, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis affect an individual psychologically. I will explain the origin of the drugs, how a person feels while on the drug, how the drugs

An individual’s behavior and emotion becomes chemically altered often resulting in dependency, aggression, onset of diseases and poor judgement. This poses a dangerous threat to the neurotransmitters since they have multiple jobs in different parts of the brain. Drugs of abuse are able to exert influence over the brain reward pathway either by directly influencing the action of dopamine within the system, or by altering the activity of other neurotransmitters that exert a modulatory influence over this pathway. These drugs are often powerful and have been known to trigger schizophrenic behavior and can also cause a person to cease breathing, for example hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin are able to artificially stimulate the serotonin receptor (Sapolsky, 2005).

Throughout the history of the human species, we have been always wanted to know three basic questions: why we are here, where did we come from, and where do we go after this life? Whether we were created from an omnipotent being as in many religions, we happened by chance and made it to where we are through evolution, or maybe even something else. Whatever the case may be, humans have always been curious and wondered about our existence and consciousness. Along with these age old questions, also came the use of psychoactive drugs and other mind altering substances. In order to try to understand these questions, humans have experimented with drugs that alter their state of consciousness.

Drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and cannabis, are of natural or synthetic origin, which can alter the emotional state, perception, body functioning and behaviour of an individual. Drugs are known to work in the brain by activating certain brain circuits via different mechanisms, and stimulate or inhibit different neurons in the pathway. However, due to the effects of each drug being different, a drug will affect either different pathways and neurons in the brain to that of another, or through a different process, i.e. direct or indirect activity. This essay will discuss the different mechanisms of action that cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and

Drugs are substances other than food that affect the way your mind and body works (Al Robertson et al).