NEW PUBLICATION AT THE IGF!

The Management Team would like to share with you the release of Joël Bockaert’s latest book, published by Éditions Odile Jacob.
Drugs, brain and altered states of consciousness: from shaman to physician

The book is prefaced by Jean-Pierre Changeux.

What happens in a brain exposed to psychedelics? Joël Bockaert looks at the neurochemical and neurophysiological mechanisms of drugs which induce modified states of consciousness, close to the experiences of meditation, trance or the mysterious oceanic feeling.

Magic mushrooms, such as Ayahuasca and their natural cousins, have been used in shamanic rituals for millennia. LSD, ecstasy, ketamine and other synthetic derivatives passed from the laboratories to festive environment. This book recounts the exotic and scientific adventures that surround each of these substances. We meet writers looking for inspiration, CIA agents on mission, hippies hoping for the advent of a psychedelic New Age.

Over the recent years, these drugs have been considered by clinical research. New molecules, analogous to psychedelics, seem to produce therapeutic responses, without having psychedelic effects, particularly for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Against resistant depression, addictions or chronic pain, soon a “psychedelic treatment without trip”?