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As drug use rises, the challenge of drug dependency increases. Some people view using recreational drugs such as ecstasy or cannabis as a personal choice, like smoking or drinking alcohol. There are pressures for decriminalising drugs, offering better prevention, health support and education. Ron Dunselman sheds important new light on addiction, so that both individuals and professionals can make more informed choices. Drawing on extensive research with drug users and his rehabilitation work as a psychologist, he offers remarkable insights into: Why drugs, and the changed states they induce, are so attractive to users; the origin and history of drugs, and their striking/profound effects on human consciousness; personal stories by users, and detailed descriptions of the physical, psychological and spiritual effects of each drug; how drugs undermine personal identity, at a time when more and more people are open to spiritual experiences.

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Sociologie, société et politique

Abnormal psychology

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Publié par	Hawthorn Press
Date de parution	30 janvier 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781907359507
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0625€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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In Place of the Self
How drugs work
Ron Dunselman

HAWTHORN PRESS
First published in Dutch in 1993 by Uitgeverij Vrij Geestesleven, under the title In plaats van ik © Uitgeverij Vrij Geestesleven, Zeist, 1993
Ron Dunselman is hereby identified as author of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988. He asserts and gives notice of his moral right under this Act.
Published by Hawthorn Press, Hawthorn House, 1 Lansdown Lane, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BJ, UK Tel: (01453) 757040 Fax: (01453) 751138 E-mail: info@hawthornpress.com www.hawthornpress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic or mechanical, through reprography, digital transmission, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Photo credits p.38 FM Engel, Ansbach; pp.42-42 Musée Unterlinden, Colmar (photo O. Zimmermann); p.116 Stern, ABC Press; p.203 Visions, ABC Press; p.83 ANP-foto; p.120 ANP-foto; p.179 DPA/Pfund-ANP-foto; p. 199 Timothy Plowman.
Cover Illustration The Isenheimer Altar: The Temptation of St Anthony
English edition In Place of the Self © Hawthorn Press 1995 Translated by Plym Peters and Tony Langham
Typesetting in English version by Bookcraft, Stroud, Gloucestershire Reprinted 2006
Printed on chlorine-free paper sourced from sustainable managed forests.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data applied for
ISBN: 978-1-903458-26-6 eISBN: 978-1-907359-50-7
Contents
Foreword
1. Introduction
What are drugs?
What is addiction?
What is drug addiction?
2. Historical outline of drug use
Back to the gods
Towards the earth
Stimulating effects
Drugs as medicine
3. The use of drugs in our time
4. LSD
Ergot
Ergot in history
The Isenheim Altar
The discovery of LSD
The psychedelic revolution
The effects of LSD
Losing the boundaries
Cosmic experience
The distorting mirror
The bad trip
Waking dreams
Flashback
Other psychedelic drugs
5. Marijuana/hashish
Marijuana and hashish in history
The effects of marijuana and hashish
The course of a marijuana/hashish “high”
Changes in sensory perceptions
Changes in thinking, feeling and the will
Changes in the sense of space and time
Becoming increasingly dreamy and sleepy
Falling asleep
The hangover
The consequences of chronic marijuana/hashish use
6. Opiates
The fairy tale about the poppy
History of the opiates
Opium
Morphine
Heroin
The effects of opiates
The effects of opium
The effect of opium on the ethereal body
The effect of opium on the astral body
The effect of opium on the Self
Euphoria
The hangover
Withdrawal symptoms
The effects of morphine
The metabolic system
The rhythmic system
The sensory nervous system
The effects of heroin
Methadone
7. Alcohol
Alcohol in history
How is alcohol produced?
The effects of alcohol
The use of alcohol by the young
8. Cocaine and amphetemines
Cocaine
History
The coca plant
Cocaine in Europe
Coca Cola
The end of the 19th century
The 20th century
After the Second World War
The effects of cocaine
The anaesthetizing effect
The stimulant effect
The euphoria
The hangover
Addiction
The physical consequences of chronic use of cocaine
Amphetamines (speed)
The history
The effect
9. Ecstasy (XTC)
History
The effect
Risks
10. Designer drugs
11. Drug use and drug addiction
References
Bibliography
Foreword
Ron Dunselman gives an excellent orientation to the issues of drug use in general, as well as describing the particular nature of many of the main addictive substances used at the present time. He manages to combine a historical perspective, the scientific facts, and the experiences of the user, as well as a spiritual perspective.
The book has an objective factual style and provides considerable detailed information about each of the drugs dealt with. It is useful background reading and reference work for anyone concerned with drug abuse who wants a wider perspective on the problem, and more insights into the substances themselves. Its strength is that it succeeds in combining an objectively scientific approach with personal experience. It attempts to understand the effects on the user, not only physically but in terms of the body’s vitality and the psychological effects. It also examines the relationship between drug experiences and spiritual experiences.
However, from the outset it stresses that the changes in consciousness, which may be considered the aim of drug taking, are done for the user who does not bring it about himself. They are frequently used to avoid unpleasant feelings of anxiety, depression or emptiness, without the user being active or changing the situation himself. In this sense they can be seen as opposing personal development and the reverse of firing the individual’s own inner creativity. Drugs can be seen as replacing the activity and the development of the self, i.e. as acting “In Place of the Self”.
The author is a psychologist and leading member of ARTA, a highly successful therapeutic community helping drug addicts in Holland. The methods of this holistic and successful centre have also been described in a book by one of his colleagues, previously published by Hawthorn Press, under the title ‘Rock Bottom’. This well researched book is the work of someone who has dedicated himself practically to helping and supporting individuals trying to recover from the problems of drug addiction.
Dr Michael Evans St. Luke’s Medical Centre, Stroud, Part-time Visiting Lecturer in Anthroposophical Medicine at the Centre for Complementary Health Studies, Exeter University, Secretary of the Medicines Committee of the Anthroposophical Medical Association
Thoughout this book, the drug user is referred to as either “he” or “she” in each alternate chapter, starting with “he” in Chapter 1 .
Footnotes indicated by a numeral refer the reader to the References; those indicated by a letter apply to the Appendix.
1
Introduction
In our century there has been an enormous increase in the consumption of alcohol and drugs. The Dutch Ministry of Public Health’s memorandum on the problem of addiction (June, 1992) contained the following statement with regard to alcohol:
“In a quantitative respect, alcohol addiction is the most marked. Several hundred thousand Dutch people have serious problems controlling their consumption of alcohol, often resulting in serious physical and psychological problems.” 1
In addition, there are approximately 24,000 people addicted to hard drugs in the Netherlands, 2,a while an estimated 500,000 people regularly use marijuana/hash (cannabis). 3,b In fact, a growing number of people are having problems with the use of this drug. 4
In 1987, approximately 250,000 people took daily sleeping pills or tranquillizers, 5,c and in 1985 over 16,000 people died in the Netherlands as the result of smoking tobacco. 6,d The number of people in Europe currently dying prematurely as a result of nicotine consumption is estimated to be between 750,000 and 1,000,000 per year. 7
In addition, there is also a worldwide increase in the number of people who use cocaine and crack; for example, in North America the estimated figure is now 22 million people. 8,e There are also the new synthetic drugs (designer drugs) which are attracting increasing attention; in the Netherlands an estimated 10,000 people are now regularly using Ecstasy (XTC). 9,f
Reflecting on these figures, we come to the conclusion that there is a real drugs and addiction epidemic.
The prognosis is grim: if this development continues, by the year 2100, the number of drug addicts – i.e. people addicted to alcohol and other substances which change consciousness – in the industrialized world will exceed the number of people not addicted to drugs. 10
What is this addiction, and what is the attraction of drugs which induces so many people to seek refuge in them? In other words, what are drugs?
What are drugs?
Basically, drugs are substances or compounds which lead to a change of consciousness. This change can take many different forms: drinking a beer to set your worries aside for a while, smoking a joint of marijuana/hashish to feel more relaxed, swallowing a tablet of ecstasy to be more open, active and communicative, shooting up heroin in order to dispel feelings of fear and sorrow. The characteristic aspect is always that the desired changes of consciousness are not brought about by our own inner activity, but are induced from outside by the effect of the substances taken.
Users do not change their consciousnesses themselves – they let the drugs do it for them. The change of consciousness is the aim; it is not a coincidental effect of taking the drug.
To summarize, it can be argued that drugs are substances or compounds which are deliberately used because they bring about a change of consciousness.
What is addiction?
Many people start the day by smoking a cigarette with their daily newspaper, wonderful! In the course of the day they have some nice cups of coffee, cigarettes to relax, a drink before dinner, a beer or a glass of wine with the meal, and a few pleasant hours in front of the TV, possibly finishing off with a sleeping pill before going to bed. That’s okay, isn’t it?
Looking at this example, it is clear that these pleasures can be distinguished from the everyday activities which we must carry out all our lives to keep our bodies healthy, such as breathing and sleeping. Breathing and sleeping are conditions of our existence and development on earth which are ordained by nature. If we do not carry out these activities, we neglect our bodies and eventually die.
And yet we are not addicted to these activities. For example, it would be ridiculous to say that we are addicted to breathing. We have to breathe, wheth