Altered States: Minds, Drugs and Culture

by Ben Sessa

What actually happens to you when you drink a cup of coffee?Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac? How do drugs like alcohol and cannabis work? Did psychedelics play a part in human evolution? In this fascinating little book, leading psychopharmacologist Dr. Ben Sessa describes the drugs, legal and illegal, natural and synthesised, from nicotine to endorphins, sugar to antidepressants, that humans all over the world take every day to change their state of mind.

Genres: Nonfiction

64 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2023

Reviews

[Nujood AlMulla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t say this was a BOOK per se, this was more of an illustrative booklet. It’s mainly a dictionary or a guide of all the substances, drugs, hallucinogenics and practices that alter our state of mind and allow us to enter a new realm of consciousness or force certain mental modes that we may not have direct access to otherwise, hence causing a disorientation in time, place and or person within our brains. It simply introduces every substance/ activity and breaks down how it affects our minds (what hormones are produced and what neurotransmitters are triggered) in extremely simple and concise manner
“Attempts to expand consciousness have been both worshiped and demonised throughout human history” and we “have become masters and mistresses of messing with our brains”

The book does two things wonderfully:
1. It provokes many questions about why we have this obsession with escaping our uniform mental state that dates back to centuries, which made me truly wonder if there is perhaps a grand systematic fault with the way the modern world has been designed and whether we can sustain ourselves without these substances. For example, we are physically prone to consuming sucrose or sugar, which was scarce and required significant efforts to retrieve in the past, but now we are evolutionary hooked that we may develop withdrawal symptoms if deprived, thus - to my disappointment, a renounced sugar lover - supporting the ‘sugar is a drug’ cliche.
2. It provides magnificent illustrations through scientific annotations and visual snippets from literature, history, culture and art (ex. Alex Grey, the amazing psychedelic inspired artist) to aid our understanding of where these substances originated and how they penetrated everyday culture.

In this extremely short introduction on the topic, we marvel through Aldous Huxley’s Doors of Perception reminding us that “if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: INFINITE”, Albert Hoffman’s ‘Bicycle Day’ tripping incident, Van Gogh’s ‘Sorrowing Old Man’ depicting depression, Alex Grey’s ‘DMT’ painting the intersection between mind and the universe, the Royal Society’s ‘laughing gas’ fest, the Islamic Suffis appreciation of cannabis and their ‘Whirling Dervishes’ dance to induce a trance state, what ‘DEATH BY CHOCOLATE’ looks like -mixing large volumes of it with MAO as the cacao plant loving Mayan Priest did-, the power of lucid dreams and how to induce them -Galantamine and Calea-, the wavelengths of our brain (gamma THE OPTIMAL DREAM STATE, beta, alpha, theta, delta), the different types of meditation in a neat, simple and well conceptualised table, Plato’s pondering of how the mind exists outside the brain or the concept of ‘Panpsychism’ and all the weird plants that either blessed us OR cursed us, depending how you look at it, with these strange substances.

So by the end, you are left questioning whether humans have decided to exploit these wonderful gifts from nature, creating the phenomenon that is escapism, or whether the alluring plants were not meant to be ravaged but simply cherished for the fact that they can make us LESS/ MORE human, they have some kind of superiority over us that we may never want to admit. In either case, we humans should be wary of what we consume and should ultimately have some active part in whether we would like to enter these altered states or not.

As a result, I have pledged to take back some control over my body. I want optimal Serotonin to regulate my memory, learning capacity, mood and sleep, naturally induced Dopamine through experiences not substances, maximum Norepinephrine to increase my focus and alertness, quick fight-flight-freeze decisions through Epinephrine, perfect levels of Oxytocin to empathise and love and more Adrenaline, ALWAYS for the thrill. I want to seek a life style that may aid these ambitions and hopefully, align my body with my mind.

[Grace Moroney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but not subjective

[Akira Sidana · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting and kept it simple enough to not be too sciencey for my silly little brain

[Carl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this beautifully illustrated book because of my curiosity about the psycho-cultural aspects of altered states. Embarrassingly, this book took me too long to finish, and I’m not really sure who this was written for. The science is too complex for a casual read, and too simplistic to be used as a reference. It’s not about whether or not the content was understandable; it’s about how the entire thing felt like an encyclopedia contributor phoning it in.

[Salvador J. Nunez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed with the author's ability to compress so much knowledge, obscure history, facts, trivia, organic chemistry, and beautiful illustrations into such a concise and neat package. Covering everything from brain anatomy, hormones, neurotransmitters, meditation, food, and drugs--it's a handy, prudent, and entertaining little book that can be read in one sitting or used as a reference.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very short intro to the mechanisms that several substances have on the human brain, from sugar to nicotine to psychedelics. I wonder why, in this cursory glance, the author decided to feature the molecular structure of each substance.