Drugs, consciousness and self-control: Popular and medical conceptions

Abstract

Psychoactive drugs alter human consciousness, but the meaning and results of the alteration are mediated by cultural and individual expectations. Industrialization has greatly increased the availability of drugs, while bringing new expectations of self-control and concentration. There are recurrent scenarios of entrenchment and 'disentrenchment' of drugs, and for alcohol, at least, there is enough cyclicality to speak of 'long waves of consumption' Popular ideas of addiction arose with the 19th century temperance movement as an explanation of life failure: the loss of control is double, not only over the drug use, but also over one's life. The emergence of the Adult Children of Alcoholics mo..