The Psychopharmacology of Herbal Medicine: Plant Drugs That Alter Mind, Brain, and Behavior

Rating:
Summary: Not just psychedelics
Review: This book is a technical, complete and academic discussion of herbs that affect the brain, including therapeutic herbs, sedatives, as well as illicit herbs (herbs used to get a "high"). The author, Marcello Spinella, emphasis the importance of weighing all the risks and benefits of herbal medicine and discusses the latest research from scientific journals. Among the herbs reviewed here are valerian, chamomile, kava, passionflower and ginkgo. Also included is an overview of neuroscience and pharmacology. This is a very good reference book for someone serious about understanding how herbs affect the brain.

Rating:
Summary: Can science and herbs co-exist? Yes!
Review: This book is a technical, complete and academic discussion of herbs that affect the brain, including therapeutic herbs, sedatives, as well as illicit herbs (herbs used to get a "high"). The author, Marcello Spinella, emphasis the importance of weighing all the risks and benefits of herbal medicine and discusses the latest research from scientific journals. Among the herbs reviewed here are valerian, chamomile, kava, passionflower and ginkgo. Also included is an overview of neuroscience and pharmacology. This is a very good reference book for someone serious about understanding how herbs affect the brain.

Rating:
Summary: Can science and herbs co-exist? Yes!
Review: What makes this book stand out from the many hundred others out on the market is that it approaches the effects of herbs on the nervous system from a scientific, rather than pseudo- or anti-scientific, perspective. Rather than viewing herbs as being "alternative" and separate from science, Spinella scrutinizes the empirical evidence for and against the claimed effects of herbs on the brain. This book should be in every psychologist's, psychiatrist's, and physician's book shelf.