Chemicals for the mind : psychopharmacology and human consciousness / Ernest Keen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Keen, Ernest, 1937-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychopharmacology.

Consciousness.

Altered states of consciousness.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (164 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Silently orienting us to the world are traditions embedded in our language. These traditions shape how we understand the necessities and possibilities of life and truth. Dualism, a metaphysical theory, is such a tradition, and, in Keen's view, the separate discourses of science and morality create double meanings in our experience. Psychopharmacology is a critical intersection of these two worlds, where physical compounds are used to change mental life. Increasingly, the language of neurochemistry formulates that treatment. To control ennui with chemicals is to direct our attention away from what is wrong in our lives and to focus instead on what we can control easily, by taking a pill. Mental life has become marginal in biologically reductionistic discourse. While the demystification of human consciousness is surely a cornerstone of modernity, in excess it indulges a world design where nothing is sacred and everything becomes just another phenomenon to which we owe nothing. Our practice of manipulating consciousness as an object surrenders the complex reflections of moral ambiguity and struggle. Following the example of our doctors, Keen asserts, we the population neglect what is wrong in our lives. Like the rest of nature, our minds become exploitable. And properties of consciousness become commodities sold by prescription in drug stores. A provocative analysis of psychopharmacology this will be of interest to treatment professionals, from psychologists, psychiatrists, and nurses to social workers, as well as the interested public.

Contents:

Cover

Chemicals for the Mind

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

NOTES

chapter 1 SCIENCE, MORALITY, AND THE OBLIGATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND IMPERSONAL PILLS

PHILOSOPHICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

ONTOLOGICAL COMMITMENTS

PROFESSIONAL IMPLICATIONS

FAMILY IMPLICATIONS

THE OBLIGATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

chapter 2 ON DUALISM Why Psychology Needs Philosophy

DESCARTES' DUALISM

NINETEENTH- CENTURY MORAL THERAPY

CONTEMPORARY IDEAS

UNDERCUTTING DUALISM

chapter 3 PSYCHOLOGY'S STRUGGLE WITH DUALISM

MENTAL SCIENCE

EARLY MENTAL SCIENCE

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOANALYSIS

THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION

PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

FUNCTIONAL LANGUAGE

RESOLUTION?

chapter 4 ON BIOLOGICAL REDUCTIONISM Culture and Ideology

CAUSAL FACTORS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

IS THIS A PROFESSIONAL CRISIS?

IS THIS A PHILOSOPHICAL CRISIS?

DESCRIBING ANEW

chapter 5 DUALISM AND OBJECTIFICATION

WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH CONSCIOUSNESS?

Enacting Dualism

Denying Dualism

RESISTANCE TO TECHNOLOGY

THE COSTS OF MASTERING NATURE

MEDICALIZATION OF MADNESS

chapter 6 OBJECTIFICATION AND VIOLENCE

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL THEORY

METAPHORS IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE

NONVIOLENT HELP

WHEN I S PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY NOT HELPFUL?

SOME IMPLICATIONS

chapter 7 INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE IN PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY

ORIENTALISM

CONCEALMENT

AN EXPERT PSYCHIATRY

AN ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENCE

CONCLUSIONS

chapter 8 QUESTIONING PSYCHOLOGICAL MODERNITY

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODERNITY

FROM JAMES TO ECOLOGY3

FROM ECOLOGY TO PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

IS PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY IMMORAL?

ANTICIPATING THE FUTURE

References

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical refererences (p. [131]-138) and index.

ISBN:

9798400624926

9780313001048

0313001049

OCLC:

567903514